Bundesliga: Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski breaks Gerd Muller's 49-year goalscoring record
Dec 18, 2021
Munich [Germany], December 18 : Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski set a new record for most Bundesliga goals in a calendar year with his late strike against Wolfsburg on Friday.
Lewandowski scored his 43rd Bundesliga goal of 2021 on Matchday 17 - just his 34th game of the year - to break a record set by the late Gerd Muller in 1972.
It's the second time this year Lewandowski has trumped a 49-year Muller best-mark. The Striker of the Year scored with the final kick of the 2020/21 season to bring up his 41st single-season goal, besting Der Bomber's previous gold standard of 1971/72 by one.
The incumbent No.9 in Munich is now only 69 goals behind Muller's all-time total, which he could just reach - at his current rate - before his contract expires at the end of 2022/23.
Before then, he could claim the Bundesliga record for most games in which he's scored. That is currently held by Muller (228) - and Klaus Fischer is also still ahead on 209 - but the Wolfsburg match was Lewandowski's 202nd in the Bundesliga with a goal.
His 200th - the Klassiker victory at former club Borussia Dortmund - already saw him break the record for most away goals in the Bundesliga, scoring another brace to move onto 118 and past Fischer's previous best of 117. He's currently on 120 after his recent two-goal haul in Stuttgart.
Lewandowski is the leading goalscorer in this season's Bundesliga with 19 goals after 17 matches. He is bidding for a fifth successive top scorer's cannon, and seventh overall.
