Querida Robert,
I still remember.
It’s all too fresh as it was yesterday.
See, in life, there are few such moments where one will always remember where they were when it happened.
I believe you signing for Barcelona warrants being part of that core memory of mine.
Like I said, I still remember where I was – not just physically – when it was made official that THE ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI will be playing for the historic but at the time, fading Blaugrana colours. I am also willing to bet nearly all of us wouldn’t
be able to get that moment of you looking over the Miami shore at sunrise out of our heads.
Especially more so now that you have said goodbye.
So I guess all I can say is, thank you.
Thank you for betting on us when the chips were down.
Thank you for your sacrifice when you had the world at your feet. When you were laden with silverware. When you were guaranteed success and deserved recognition for the remaining years of your illustrious career.
You had everything up there in Bavaria. You were and are a legend in those parts. We would have been perfectly happy to see you win it all from afar from our television sets.
But no. You had to leave it all behind to help us get back to where even you believed we belong.
And perhaps that’s the thing Robert. When we saw you up close, it soon became crystal clear that you believed it more than most. I wouldn’t be being hyperbolic to suggest you might be one of the only few who believed in us at all. You saw something in this club. In its glory. In its fanbase. That future perhaps we never knew we had.
That is why I wouldn’t want you to leave without knowing the lightning bolt of hope you became for us.
That fiesta at the Camp Nou with your hat-trick in the Champions League. Your magisterial touch to get away from two scampering Villarreal centre-backs and bury it in the top corner. Your moment of sheer brilliance when you slotted it home and hit the coldest football celebration EVER against Real Madrid in a memorable 4-0 win.
All these moments, plenty of them in these four years, gave us that bit more hope and gave us that much more joy that the goals the world has been fawning over for over a decade now, were now reserved exclusively for us.
And to be absolutely honest, I am really glad we are able to wish you farewell with silverware. To repay you, with the one thing that will make you as happy to see that you succeeded Robert. And that’s not all.
You succeeded in lifting up an entire generation of the crestfallen faithful to scream, cheer and jump for the most beautiful club in the world again. In liberating people around the world to roam on the streets repping the club of their dreams.
I would also like you to know this is how we will always remember you by. Not solely for your goals, mind-boggling stats and impossible finishes but the sheer admiration and awe you had us in. So much so that we were bubbling with love for a legend after you played for the final time at the Camp Nou.
I swear I wasn’t expecting to feel funny either. I thought I was more prepared for this inevitable goodbye. But when the greatest wasn’t able to not let it get to him for once, who are we who feed off their assurance to control our own emotions.
“We have Robert Lewangoalski… you know Robert LewanGOALski!”
Said a good friend of yours, Thomas Muller.
Now that makes two of us. “We had Robert Lewandowski. You know, the Barcelona hero that took us back to the top.”
And just to boast about our special connection here, if the farewell was anything to go by, maybe the likes of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund or the ramdeuter himself never truly knew what it meant to have Robert Lewandowski play for their club. For my club.
Maybe they took it for granted. His goals. His charisma. His personality. His impact.
Impact.
You never let us down Robert. Your legend will be passed on to the upcoming generation of fans who will be whirling their scarves in pride for a club back at the top and entertaining the world. You did that. That will be your legacy.
The best thing about it will be, they will remember who needs to be thanked for their joy. We, the witnesses, will keep it alive. Especially in Catalonia, your place on earth. Your home for eternity.
By the end of it all, I am sorry I couldn’t bring myself to make this purely professional and talk about how we are losing the most potent goal-scorer of our time. For Barcelona, you have been so much more and bigger than that. You gave ‘mes que un club’ its life back.
And that just leaves me in agreement with the 65,000 strong who let the world know what they thought of you, it all really started with you Robert.
