Two months after walking out of the Spotify Camp Nou, Robert Lewandowski has delivered a generous verdict on the club he left behind: Barcelona are among the favourites for the Champions League. Speaking to AS, as reported by Mundo Deportivo, the 38-year-old — now leading the line for Chicago Fire in MLS — argued that the Blaugrana dressing room has grown up at exactly the right moment.
Why Lewandowski likes Barcelona’s Champions League odds
The Pole’s case rests on experience rather than transfer spending. Barça went to the 2026 World Cup and came back with a large slice of the winning Spain squad, and Lewandowski thinks that changes the temperature of the European nights to come.
“For Barcelona the Champions League is a dream, but this is a moment when it has players who two or three years ago were very young, and now have experience,” he said. “There are eight players who have been world champions.”
Asked to place his former side in the European pecking order, he did not hedge much: “Barça is one of the favourites, along with two or three other teams.” His caveat was about stamina rather than quality. “In Europe it doesn’t matter how you play at the start of the season, but maintaining the level for the rest of the year. I hope that at the end we can talk about Barcelona and how many titles it has won.”
Time zones have made him a part-time viewer of Hansi Flick’s opening weeks. “I’ve seen little of the two games, but I know the current situation of the club. They need a little time and I hope Barcelona continue to play well. They have very good players,” he said, adding that “this stage for the team may be different from last season, because it has a lot of players with quality and new signings.”
The goal void he left behind
Lewandowski is honest about the size of the hole his exit created. His own departure to Chicago and Ferran Torres‘ €48.5m sale to Paris Saint-Germain stripped the squad of two of its most reliable finishers, with Barça Universal also noting the end of Marcus Rashford’s spell in Catalonia. “Last season we scored 65 goals,” he pointed out — a reminder of how much output needed replacing.
The plan to replace it was, for most of the summer, Julián Álvarez. Atlético Madrid never opened the door, and when Lewandowski gave the interview he still fancied his old club to find a way. “There are a few days left and everything can happen, and Barcelona know how to work until the end,” he said.
They did work until the end — just not for Álvarez. Gabriel Jesus arrived on deadline day, signed through to 2029 and inherited the number nine shirt Lewandowski wore for four seasons. The Brazilian has already begun individual work at the Ciutat Esportiva and is closing in on his first appearance in Blaugrana.
The one trophy that got away
There is a personal edge to all of this. Lewandowski left Barcelona having scored 120 goals in four seasons and won seven trophies, including three of the four league titles he contested — but never the European Cup he chased for a decade. He is not bitter about it. If anything, he sounds like a supporter.
“I hope Barça can celebrate the Champions League,” he said.
For now, Flick’s side are doing their talking domestically, having opened the campaign with wins over Elche, Athletic Club and Rayo Vallecano, with Raphinha and Lamine Yamal both scoring freely. The Champions League league phase is the next test of whether Lewandowski’s read on his old dressing room is right — and whether the eight world champions he keeps counting can turn a dream into a night in a European final.
