During Robert's football career Lewandowski he had the opportunity to work with many great trainers. Starting from Juergen Klopp, to Jupp Heynckes, Julian Nagelsmann, Hansi Flick, ending with Xavi and Pep Guardiola. Lewandowski he trained under Guardiola from 2014 to 2016, when they were both at Bayern Munich.
– Five goals in nine minutes with Wolfsburg? I've never seen anything like this. It seemed impossible. Working with Lewandowski was an incredible pleasure. He is an incredible professional and the top striker in the world. When he gets passes into the penalty area, he is unstoppable. Let's hope he will have a good season, he said Guardiola in one of the interviews (quote from: weszlo.com).
And what does Lewandowski himself say about cooperation with Guardiola?
“He was difficult as a person.” Lewandowski actually said that about Guardiola
During Lewandowski's conversation with Rio Ferdinand, the topic of Guardiola came up. The Pole revealed that Pep had problems at the beginning of his work at Bayern. “As a person he was difficult for the players because at that time he was so brilliant as a football tactician that he thought if everyone followed him they would win. In later times I saw that he had changed. “I think he realized that if he was more human and more open, sometimes it would help him more than tactics alone,” he said.
– I understand it if you're playing against a team that doesn't have much chance of beating you, but he saw it differently when he played against big teams. Tactics are important, I don't want to say they aren't, but I think at this level different things can make the difference between winning and losing. Sometimes tactics are too much and you need individuality – added Lewandowski. At the same time, Robert revealed what fascinated him most about working with Guardiola.
– From the first training session, I was very impressed with how focused he was on details. There were things there that I had never thought about before, and even roundabouts (football drills) were so important to him, while I just thought we were playing, Lewandowski said.
This is how Klopp helped Lewandowski. “I needed it”
During the interview, Lewandowski also talked more about Ancelotti and Klopp. What did he say about the Real Madrid coach? – Ancelotti is like a father or an uncle. He may come to you and ask why you are not happy. He can talk to you about anything. And Klopp? You know him, he's an amazing guy, he can talk to you and knows when to be more tough and when to be more like a friend – said Lewandowski. He then revealed how Klopp helped him in his career when he was still playing for Borussia Dortmund.
– I lost my father when I was 16 and I was very withdrawn. I remember I went to talk to Klopp. We talked for an hour and a half. I didn't understand everything because I was just in Germany, but it wasn't so important what we talked about, but that he talked to me like that. After two days we were playing game and we won 4-0. I scored a hat-trick and gave an assist. I thought: what could have changed so much? But at the time, maybe it was just my personal situation, but it unlocked something in me. I needed it at that time, concluded Lewandowski.