Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski has been tipped to have a reduced role at the club this season due to his advancing years and the options Hansi Flick has in attack.
Lewandowski turned 37 in August and is part of a Barcelona attack that also consists of Raphinha, Lamine Yamal, Marcus Rashford, Ferran Torres and Dani Olmo.
The veteran has spoken out about his situation and seems willing to accept he many no longer be a guaranteed starter for the Catalan giants.
“This year I personally face my situation
differently: I don’t look so much at the number of minutes I have and I will have conversations during the season,” he told reporters while on international duty.
“I don’t think I have to play by decree either: we have a squad that allows us to rotate and that’s important. Sometimes it’s more important to focus on the quality of minutes than on quantity.”
Lewandowski also seems eager to avoid problems that arose last season when he suffered physically in the closing weeks of the campaign.
“This season we will constantly analyse how I feel. Last season I played a lot of games and with a lot of intensity. There were times when I felt very tired, and I was injured in the final stretch of the season,” he added.
“We know that when the Champions League starts there is very little recovery time between games and it will be important to manage the wear and tear well. I think this start of the season will be just as difficult as the previous one, so we have to be prepared. I’m aware that the intensity is very high, also because of the way we play: so we’ll all need to rest at some point. I have prepared very well this summer. I’ve had a lot of holidays, I’ve been fine-tuned and I think that will help me throughout the season.”
Lewandowski has only made two substitute appearances for Barcelona so far this season, after picking up an injury in training, but will be hoping he can make an impact when La Liga resumes after the international break.
