25/04 - 20:00
In his 10 seasons in the Bundesliga, only once has Robert Lewandowski not featured in the top three goal scorers in the German top flight.
Despite edging towards the winter of his career, the 31-year-old has maintained his lethal form this season and amassed 23 goals in just 22 matches, including a record breaking 11 game scoring streak.
As strange as it sounds though, Lewandowski looks to be in danger of being usurped as the hottest shot in the Bundesliga.
There's one clear threat to Lewandowski's status... and it comes in the rangy shape of Dortmund’s January signing Erling Braut Håland.
Braut of this world
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Already making waves in European football after his prolific exploits at RB Salzburg, Haaland has fitted in seamlessly at Dortmund - and there seems little doubt that the Norwegian will have his eyes on the Golden Boot next season.
Lewandowski has been formidable since joining the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund in 2010, regularly scoring over 20 goals a season. If anything age appears to have sharpened his predatory instincts, and the Pole has already surpassed his tally for last season - recently scoring his 23rd Bundesliga goal of the season as Bayern brushed past Koln 4-1.
Despite playing only five games in Germany since joining Dortmund for a €22.5 million (£19 million) fee in January, Haaland has already scored 8 goals - and given his body of work this season, it would not be surprising if Haaland is in and around the division's top scorers come the end of the season, with over 10 more games to go.
It is in the Champions League, however, that Haaland has really shown the extent of his potential, and why Lewandowski may have met his match.
Previously, Lewandowski has always been the highest-scoring Bundesliga player in the Champions League, flying the flag in seven out of the past 10 seasons.
This season Lewandowski and Haaland are tied at the top of the Champions League goalscoring charts with 10 goals apiece - although Lewandowski does have a last 16 tie against Chelsea in hand where he can leapfrog Haaland who bagged a brace in a 2-1 win over PSG on Tuesday.
However if his strike rate remains the same, Haaland seems set to replace Lewandowski as the Bundesliga's most prolific striker in Europe.
Comparing them this season, Haaland's numbers make for extremely impressive reading and averaging a goal every 47 minutes of football, he looks to be set to become a world superstar. It should be noted, however, that his average of a goal nearly every half is distorted by his goals in the Champions League, where he wasn’t always playing the full 90 minutes.
Can Haaland improve on this?
Since signing for Red Bull Salzburg in January 2019 for €5 million aged just 18, Haaland hasn't stopped scoring.
In total, he scored 29 times in his 27 appearances for the Austrian team and - despite not playing since mid-December - Haaland is still the second top scorer in the Austrian Bundesliga!
It is hard to plot the graph of where exactly Haaland's strike rate can and will go from here - but his form to date suggests that he is cut from the same cloth as Lewandowski, and clearly has the potential to surpass the Bundesliga's greatest striker over the past decade.
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— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) February 20, 2020
Is Robert Lewandowski set to be dethroned as the Bundesliga's sharpest shooter?
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