Lewandowski v Haaland: Who Will Bag the Most When Bundesliga Returns?

This season, fans of the Bundesliga have witnessed almost 700 goals between the 18 German top-tier teams, with just over 250 of those shared amongst the top four sides.

Unsurprisingly, the top three sides leading scorers are also the Bundesliga scorers, as Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho, RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner and Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski lead the race for the Bundesliga Golden Boot.

Lewandowski is currently the leading goalscorer so far this season and will be eager to win his fifth top-scorer award. The Polish striker has netted a total of 25 times thus far, and will undoubtedly add to his tally in the remaining nine games of the 2019/20 campaign and claim the Golden Boot.

One forward who does not feature in the list of leading Bundesliga scorers is Erling Haaland – a clinical Norwegian striker who has taken the German top division by storm since signing for Dortmund in the January transfer window.

The 19-year-old has scored an incredible nine goals in just eight games for BVB this season, bagging a hat-trick on his 34-minute debut against FC Augsburg. Now, Haaland will be keen to continue in his impressive run of form and carry on scoring goals for his side as they look to keep the pressure on the league leaders, Bayern.

Both Lewandowski and Haaland will most likely continue to score for their sides for the remainder of the season, but who will net more? Here, we take a look at who will score the most when the action returns, as two of Europe's elite men go head-to-head.

Lewandowski is third in the standings for the all-time Bundesliga top scorer on 227 goals overall, only behind German legends Klaus Fischer and Gerd Muller.

With an average strike rate of a goal per game for the 2019/20 campaign, Lewandowski has once again proved why he is the most dangerous striker in German football, and considered to be one of the best centre forwards in world football.

This season, the Bavarians’ number nine is - en route to winning his third consecutive Bundesliga top goalscorer award - four goals ahead of second-place Werner, who is on 21 thus far. The Polish forward has netted every 82 minutes this campaign, not appearing on the score sheet just five times over the 23 games he has played in the league this season.

The Bayern talisman has had a total of 18 more shots than any other Bundesliga striker, with an impressive 60% of those being on target, scoring 25 of the 92 shots at goal. His eye for goal and deadly finishing will surely continue in the last nine league games, considering his statistics for the season and his desire for yet another Golden Boot.

When playing at the level of Lewandowski, it is often the case that even three games without a goal can be scrutinised and labelled a goal drought, and was the case for the 31-year-old in the lead up to the winter break. The teams he failed to score against; Fortuna Düsseldorf, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Monchengladbach, all feature on Munich’s remaining fixture list and the Polish forward will be keen to make up for his fallings on the reverse fixture.

In fact, six goals of the Pole’s 25 goals this season came against four of Bayern’s remaining opponents, including two against Dortmund – his former club and the side his possible biggest rival for goalscoring statistics next season plays for, Haaland.

Haaland has exploded onto the scene for Dortmund since his arrival to the Bundesliga from Austrian side, RB Salzburg, and is rapidly gaining a reputation as one of Europe’s most prolific strikers.

The Norwegian forward has played just 511 minutes of football this season for Dortmund, already scoring nine goals so far in his German league debut season. What makes his strike record even more impressive, however, is the fact that he has only had 15 shots on goal all season, with 12 hitting the target. His shot accuracy has stunned fans and pundits alike, making him one of world football’s most recent big prospects.

However, between himself and Lewandowski, Haaland has the more difficult games remaining this season which could drastically affect his chances of scoring more than the Polish forward from now until the end of the season. Dortmund still have to play Leipzig and Munich in their remaining fixtures – sides that are joint top in the least amount of goals conceded this season, with 26 each, meaning the BVB number 17 will play against tougher defences than his biggest goalscoring rival.

Also, despite the young forward's highly impressive goal ratio of 57 minutes per goal, it should be considered that all of his Bundesliga goals have come against sides in the bottom half of the table, failing to add to his tally when playing against SC Freiburg, Leverkusen and Monchengladbach, who are all in the top nine.

With the majority of Haaland’s fixtures for the rest of the season to be played against teams in the top nine, currently, the Dortmund striker will have a more difficult run of games than his Polish counterpart.

It is therefore more likely that fans of the two frontmen will see Lewandowski continue to score more goals from now until the end of June when the season is over, although, nothing is for certain and one injury or poor run of games for the Pole could see the BVB striker have a better end to the season.

By Bradley Beecham