Lewandowski delighted to join Ronaldo and Messi with Champions League ton

Robert Lewandowski was delighted to join Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as Champions League captains in Barcelona's 3-0 win over Brest.

Lewandowski scored twice either side of a Dani Olmo goal as Barca ran out 3-0 victors, leapfrogging the French side in the standings as they moved to 12 points from five games.

The Poland international is only the third player to score 100 goals in the Champions League, after Ronaldo (140) and Messi (129).

However, the Barça forward made the fewest shots (451) to reach the milestone, with Messi needing 527 and Ronaldo 793.

Lewandowski has scored 17 times in the league for Borussia Dortmund, 69 times for Bayern Munich and now 15 times for the Blaugrana. Meanwhile, 22 of his Champions League goals came under Hansi Flick.

“I'm very happy, very happy. 101 goals in the Champions League is a great number,” Lewandowski told Movistar Plus after the match.

“I didn't think I could score so many goals in the Champions League. To join Messi and Ronaldo… I think they are good, right?”

Across all competitions this season, Lewandowski has now scored 22 goals in 19 appearances – nine more than any other LaLiga player.

He is just four goals shy of his final tally from last season (26 in 49 games).

Barca, meanwhile, has become the fifth team to win four consecutive European Cup/Champions League matches by at least three goals, after Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 (five), Bayern in 2020 and 2021 (four in both cases), Leeds United in 1969 (four) and Reims in 1958 (four).

Their victory came after disappointing results in LaLiga, where a 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad and a 2-2 draw against Celta Vigo have allowed Real Madrid to reduce their lead at the top.

“We haven't been playing well in LaLiga lately, but we still have a lot of games to play. We just have to be patient, eventually we will score more goals,” Lewandowski added.

“We want to win every game. If I can score goals to help the team, so much the better. We have to win every game until the end of the season.”

Head coach Flick praised Lewandowski and also said Barca deserved the three points after scoring 19 shots worth 2.86 expected goals (xG), while Brest were limited to two, worth 0.07 xG.

“Lewandowski is great, I am happy with his goals. I think Lewandowski knows he has to score and he is in the position to do that, but the most important thing is what the team generates,” said Flick.

“Obviously he knows he has to score and plays for it, but what this team is doing is just amazing.

“I'm very happy. We deserved it. We won by three goals, but we could have scored more. But I'm happy anyway because to deliver a performance like this after Vigo is just great.”