Can Lewandowski end Messi & Ronaldo's Euro goals monopoly?

We are already fast running out of superlatives for Robert Lewandowski's recent goalscoring exploits but Germany’s biggest newspaper BILD summed up the mood of the footballing world with their headline on Wednesday after the Poland striker had laid waste to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League. “Fußball-Welt verneigt sich vor Bayerns Tor- Monster” blurted out the headline - “The football world bows down to Bayern's goal monster”. Lewandowski is without question European football’s deadliest forward right now and just maybe the man to break the Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi duopoly. It has been six years since someone else won the Ballon d’Or - Kaka of AC Milan - and at Bayern Lewandowski is the focal point of a team that finally looks ready to help him become one of the very best players in the world. Despite their obvious, individual brilliance there’s no denying that Barcelona and Real Madrid cater to Messi and Ronaldo's respective superhuman talents. Messi plays where he wants, Ronaldo takes each penalty and free-kick; both receive the ball at the end of the vast majority of attacks. Now it seems as though the German champions are willing to do that with their own special talent. Lewandowski deserves the plaudits but ultimately it is has been Pep Guardiola's change of mindset that has sparked his recent purple patch. The tireless tactician has finally given up on any quest to reinvent the wheel in Munich and has instead chosen to revert to basics. Gone are the false No.9s, three-man defences and inverted wingers. Instead Bayern look like the team they were under Jupp Heynckes - the man who won the Champions League five months after the club announced Guardiola as his successor - with Douglas Costa on one wing and Kingsley Coman on the other. Two quick, direct wingers who have notched up no less than 15 assists between them in Bayern’s first seven league games of the season. The loss of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery to injury has hardly been felt at all with two new wingers crossing the ball in to a striker who adores accurate, consistent service. For years Messi has benefited from the silver service provide by Xavi and Andres Iniesta while Ronaldo has been able to rely on assist machines likes Angel Di Maria and Mesut Ozil. Until very recently Lewandowski simply didn’t have that luxury. In his first season at the Munich club he was played up front as the sole striker but usually scored in spite of Guardiola’s system. Despite the club’s success that year he never seemed to fit in with the tactics or formation. Lewandowski still managed 25 goals in the last campaign but it was often with little help from the team around him. Such was his situation that the European media took hold of his circumstances and began speculating on a possible move in the summer transfer window. His agent, Cezary Kucharski, was ultimately forced to put the matter to bed, denouncing any interest in a move to Manchester United, but the message was clear: Lewandowski didn’t look like a Bayern player.