Lewandowski by Matt & Tom Oldfield

Author:Matt & Tom Oldfield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Templar

CHAPTER 16

HITTING HIS

STRIDE

The start of Robert’s second season in Dortmund could not have felt more different than his first. He had overcome a lot of obstacles in the past twelve months, from the language barrier to a new country to new teammates. Now he was ready to take off and become someone that Jürgen could rely on. But there would be plenty of competition for playing time, especially with İlkay Gündogan and Ivan Perišic joining Dortmund that summer.

As he stood on the edge of the ‘rondo’ next to Mario and also Shinji Kagawa, keeping the ball away from Mats in the middle, Robert felt stronger and sharper – and it didn’t take long for his teammates to notice.

‘Someone’s been hitting the gym!’ Mario said. ‘What’s your secret?’

‘It’s all thanks to Anna,’ Robert replied. With Anna’s expert advice, he had worked hard on his body during the offseason. He was more careful about what he ate and had committed to a workout routine that added muscle without slowing him down.

When Lucas Barrios, Dortmund’s first-choice striker, came back from international duty with Paraguay nursing a thigh injury, Jürgen knew that this was Robert’s moment. ‘When I said you’d get more chances this season, I wasn’t expecting it to happen quite like this,’ Jürgen said. ‘But we’re going to be counting on you in the central striker role.’

‘Looking back, I wasn’t ready last season,’ Robert admitted. ‘But I definitely am now.’

He was bursting with excitement as he left the training ground, picturing what it would be like to become a true Dortmund legend.

‘I’ve basically got a trial run in the team for the next few months,’ he explained to his mum as he drove home. ‘This is my chance to show how far I’ve come since last season.’

But Dortmund got off to a slow start, with three losses in their first six league games. Though Robert had scored two goals, there was an adjustment period as new teammates got to know the runs he liked to make.

‘We just need to get a few wins under our belt to start turning things around,’ he told Milena when she called to check on how her brother was handling the pressure. ‘You can see it in training and in flashes during games. Once we put it all together, we’re going to get on a winning run.’

Bayern Munich were always the likeliest title contender for Dortmund to worry about, but they weren’t the only ones: Schalke, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach all had strong squads and star power.

As Robert walked onto the pitch to warm up with Shinji and Mario before the home game against FC Augsburg, he dribbled the ball – left foot, left foot, right foot, right foot. He looked over at the goal and visualised scoring a game-winning header. Dortmund were normally such an attacking, high-scoring team but things hadn’t clicked yet this season, and Robert was determined to change that.

He responded with a clinical hat-trick – first, a simple first-time shot, then a swivelling strike with two defenders closing him down and finally a well-placed header.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.