Robert Lewandowski may be hunting down Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League record – but one match showed who is the boss between the pair.
With 99 European Cup goals to his name, the 36-year-old is third on the list of the competitions top scorers, behind Ronaldo (140) and Lionel Messi (129).
Lewandowski is regarded as one of the finest strikers to have ever graced the game having banged in over 700 career goals.
A League champion with Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Lech Poznan, the two-time European Golden Shoe winner has left a lasting legacy in football.
And despite entering the twilight of his career, he remains in incredible form having banged in 19 goals in 17 matches for Barca this term.
Unfortunately for Lewandowski, he has picked up a lower back injury that will see him miss Poland’s Nations League clash with Portugal on Friday – to delay yet another reunion with rival Ronaldo.
In the reverse fixture last month, Ronaldo was on target in a 3-1 win for the Euro 2016 winners.
Over the years, Lewandowski and his teammates have often come unstuck against the 39-year-old – with one match in particular in April 2017 showing who the undisputed GOAT is.
A blockbuster Champions League quarter-final draw pitted Ronaldo’s Real Madrid against Lewandowski’s Bayern.
Real went into the second leg with a 2-1 advantage courtesy of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s double.
But the return fixture at the Bernabeu proved to be one of the greatest knockout games of all time, which saw Ronaldo score his first – and only – hat-trick against the Bavarian outfit.
Madrid would advance into the semi-final following a 4-2 win in extra-time to seal a 6-3 aggregate victory – and they solely had Ronaldo to thank.
Fans had to wait until the 53rd minute for the breakthrough, which saw Lewandowski open the scoring from the penalty spot.
Ronaldo then equalised with a clinical header from ten yards out, before an own goal from Sergio Ramos sent the match to extra-time.
From there, it was the Ronaldo show, as ever the player for the big occasion, he stepped up to deliver for Los Blancos.
His second of the night came just before half-time, where he beautifully chested down Ramos’ lofted pass, before half-volleying beyond Manuel Neuer to spark wild celebrations.
But if VAR was around seven years ago, the goal would have been chalked off with Ronaldo clearly offside.
Rubbing salt in the wounds of Bayern even further, Ronaldo then completed his treble in the 110th minute – tapping home from a squared Marcelo pass to bring up a perfect hat-trick.
His dominance in the quarter-final tie almost broke Bayern’s X – former Twitter – admin, who was left heartbroken by the forward’s heroics.
After Ronaldo levelled up the game at 1-1, a post from Bayern’s social media account read: “There it is. Ronaldo out of nowhere.”
Following his next goal, which again proved to be an equaliser, Bayern posted: “Ronaldo. Fed up of writing his name in this tie.”
And after he scored his third of the night – and fifth of the tie – Bayern simply stated: “Not even saying it this time.”
Marco Asensio then sealed the victory in the 112th minute for Real, who would go on to claim their 12th European crown.
Ronaldo finished as the competition’s top scorer with 12 goals, with his double in the final seeing him win his final Ballon d’Or.
His hat-trick against Bayern – one of 66 from his illustrious career – proved to be extra sweet in getting revenge against Lewandowski after four years.
In April 2013, Lewandowski scored four goals in a semi-final first leg win, in which Ronaldo also found the back of the net, as Dortmund eased to a 4-1 victory.
Despite Real winning the second leg 2-0, it was BVB who advanced into the final, where they lost 2-1 against rivals Bayern.
But it was ultimately Ronaldo who had the last laugh, as he has done so often throughout his career.
