Barcelona forward Robert Lewandowski has disclosed that the club asked him to ease off on scoring goals toward the end of his first season in order to avoid triggering a bonus payment to Bayern Munich.
In a recent interview in Poland, the 37-year-old said he was fully aware of Barcelona’s financial difficulties when he arrived, noting that club president Joan Laporta was doing everything possible to stabilise the club’s situation.
He explained that he accepted the decision from the club’s leadership as part of efforts to cut costs tied to performance-based clauses.
Lewandowski completed a move from Bayern Munich to Barcelona in July 2022 in a deal reportedly valued at €45m plus bonuses, following eight highly successful seasons in Germany.
During the 2022–23 LaLiga campaign, his first season at the club, he scored 23 goals in 34 matches, helping Barcelona secure their first league title since Lionel Messi’s departure in 2021.
“I don’t really want to talk about it. I have too much respect for Barcelona and for the people who work there,” Lewandowski told Radio Zet in Poland.
“I was aware of the situation the club was in. There were many other situations where you had to sacrifice something personally for the good of the club.
“In short, it was about a bonus that would have to be paid depending on the number of goals I scored. And at that time, Barcelona were looking for every single euro.
“The bonus wasn’t a small amount. For me personally, it wouldn’t have changed anything, so I didn’t really have a problem with it.”
When asked whether he agreed to the club’s request, Lewandowski replied, “Well… it stays in your head.
“It stays there, even if it’s just a small percentage, but it was enough that once I actually hesitated whether to score a goal or not.
“And at the highest level of football, that’s enough. Sometimes that 5%, even 3%, can decide whether you win or whether you score.”