Bundesliga
"Lewandowski will be better than Ronaldo at 35" - Rummenigge
It's a frightening proposition, but Robert Lewandowski will only get better with age - surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo along the way - according to Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
Lewandowski helped Bayern complete a Bundesliga, DFB Cup and UEFA Champions League treble, within 24 hours of turning 32. He scored 55 goals in 47 games across the 2019/20 campaign, becoming the first player ever to win a continental treble while also being the top scorer in each competition, and besting his previous personal best by 12.
Ronaldo, who celebrated his 35th birthday in February 2020, struck 37 times for Juventus. He was 27 when he produced a career-best 60 single-season goals for Real Madrid in 2011/12.
Watch: All 34 of Robert Lewandowski's Bundesliga goals in 2019/20
Rummenigge - a revered striker in his own right, third (217) behind Lewandowski (246) and Gerd Müller (515) in Bayern's all-time scoring charts no less - believes Lewandowski will continue to outdo the five-time Ballon d'Or winner for years to come.
"Lewandowski is perhaps the best professional I have ever seen here at Bayern," the 64-year-old told Welt am Sonntag.
"He played the season of his life, and lives for Bayern Munich.
"At 35, Robert will be even better than Cristiano Ronaldo is at 35. He's a wonderful role model for our younger lads."
Indeed, it's not just his standing as the deadliest marksman in Europe that has elevated Lewandowski to the pinnacle of the game.
Having never missed more than four league matches in a decade of 34-game seasons in the Bundesliga, he is arguably the fittest man in football. Had he not sat out three fixtures through injury in 2019/20, it's fair to assume he may well have broken Müller's long-standing 40-goal record. Not that 34 Bundesliga goals in 31 appearances is to be sniffed at. The Pole claimed his fifth Torjägerkanone, and third in a row, after all.
Lewy's return of 15 Champions League goals, meanwhile, is a single-campaign total bettered only by Ronaldo (16 in 2015/16, 17 in 2013/14).
Clearly there's something to be said for eating dessert for starters and main course for dessert, as prescribed by Lewandowski's nutritionist wife, Anna.
"His diet, his lifestyle - it's all geared towards success," said Rummenigge of the man who earned the nickname 'The Body' during his time at Borussia Dortmund between 2010 and 2014.
"The times when I've gone into the dressing room and seen his upper body - he's like an Adonis. He's as good as it gets."