Robert Lewandowski broke a 49-year Bundesliga record by scoring his 41st goal of the season in the very last minute of Bayern Munich’s final 2020/21 outing at home to Augsburg.
The Poland striker had already equalled Bayern legend Gerd Mueller’s long-standing record, set all the way back in 1972, for the most goals in a single Bundesliga campaign, getting on the scoresheet for the 40th time in last weekend’s 2-2 draw away at Freiburg.
Nevertheless, he appeared set to miss out on the 41st in Saturday’s 5-2 thrashing of Augsburg, first spurning a number of golden opportunities to write history.
But just as it seemed the chance to break the record would pass him by, Lewandowski capitalised on a rebound in the box, pouncing on the loose ball and rounding the goalkeeper before stroking it home in the 90th minute.
That strike means he has produced the highest ever return in a single Bundesliga campaign with his remarkable tally of 41 goals in 29 appearances.
After etching his name into German football folklore, Lewandowski told BT Sport: “It’s difficult to say about my emotions because I’m very happy, I’m very proud.
“Also, I want to dedicate this goal to my mother because she has her birthday today, and also to Hansi Flick and all the staff – because they did an amazing job.
“We’ve worked together and had amazing performances since Hansi Flick’s [been] here, so that was something special also for me as a player.
“I’m feeling great. I don’t know exactly what I did yet, but I’m very proud, very happy and my emotions are high.
“I have to say that I never dreamt about breaking this record, to score more than 40 goals, because I thought that it’s impossible if you have only 34 games – and I played 29 games.
“So that’s why I still don’t believe what I did. But after this whole game I scored in the last seconds, the last minute. I was trying before three, four, five times to score even just one goal and I couldn’t.
“And the last situation came and I scored the goal. That is something special, something historic. I still don’t believe it but maybe tomorrow, maybe even one or two weeks later, I will understand what I did.”