Robert Lewandowski has done what many considered impossible and eclipsed Gerd Müller’s single-season Bundesliga record of 40 goals, by firing home 41. So, how did the two legendary Bayern Munich strikers compare with their goal tallies across the 2020/21 and 1971/72 campaigns?

bundesliga.com runs you through the race week by week…

Matchday 1

Lewandowski: 1
Müller: 0

Lewandowski kicked off his pursuit of the record with a penalty for 3-0 as part of Bayern’s 8-0 thrashing of Schalke.

Perhaps surprisingly, Müller started his historic campaign, in which he played every single minute, with a blank in a 3-1 win at home to Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Matchday 2

Lewandowski: 1
Müller: 1

Lewandowski then missed out the following game, only coming on for the final half an hour, as the champions were beaten 4-1 at Hoffenheim.

Müller got on the board with his first of the season to earn a 2-2 draw away at Hertha Berlin.

Matchday 3

Lewandowski: 5
Müller: 1

Lewandowski took an early lead with a brilliant four, including an injury-time penalty, as Bayern edged Hertha 4-3 at the Allianz Arena.

Der Bomber got a hat-trick of assists but no goals in a 4-1 win at home to Eintracht Braunschweig.

Watch: Lewandowski’s four against Hertha

Matchday 4

Lewandowski: 7
Müller: 1

The Poland captain added two more with his brace in a 4-1 victory at Arminia Bielefeld.

Müller was again absent from the scoresheet in a 1-1 draw away at Rot-Weiß Oberhausen.

Matchday 5

Lewandowski: 10
Müller: 1

Lewandowski got yet another hat-trick – a perfect one of left foot, right foot and header – as he got the first three in a 5-0 thumping of Eintracht Frankfurt.

Müller drew another early-season blank in a 2-0 win at home to champions Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Watch: Lewandowski’s Frankfurt hat-trick

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Matchday 6

Lewandowski: 10
Müller: 2

Lewandowski was rested for Bayern’s 2-1 win at Cologne.

Müller ended his three-game drought with the second in a 2-0 win at Kaiserslautern.

Matchday 7

Lewandowski: 11
Müller: 3

Lewandowski scored to put Bayern 2-1 up in their 3-2 Klassiker win at Borussia Dortmund.

A Müller header earned Bayern a 1-1 draw at home to Arminia Bielefeld.

Matchday 8

Lewandowski: 11
Müller: 3

Lewandowski left empty handed after a 1-1 draw at home to Werder Bremen.

Müller also failed to score in a 2-0 win away at Bochum.

Watch: Lewandowski and Müller under the tactical microscope

Matchday 9

Lewandowski: 12
Müller: 3

Lewandowski put Bayern 2-1 up in a 3-1 win at VfB Stuttgart.

Müller also played Stuttgart that matchday but failed to score in a 2-2 draw at home.

Matchday 10

Lewandowski: 12
Müller: 4

The only team Lewandowski failed to score against in 2020/21, he was unusually absent from the scoreboard in a 3-3 draw at home to RB Leipzig.

Müller drew Bayern level in the first half of a 2-1 win at Bremen.

Matchday 11

Lewandowski: 13
Müller: 6

Lewandowski’s equaliser earned Bayern a 1-1 draw at Union Berlin.

Der Bomber was starting to find his range now and scored the first and third in a 3-1 win at Hannover.

Matchday 12

Lewandowski: 15
Müller: 8

Lewandowski got both against his favourite opponent in a 2-1 win against Wolfsburg at the Allianz Arena.

Müller also got two – the opening pair of goals – in a 5-1 victory over Duisburg at the Grünwalder Stadion as Bayern moved to the summit for the first time since the opening weekend.

Matchday 13

Lewandowski: 17
Müller: 11

Lewandowski bagged a brace – including a 93rd-minute winner – as Bayern won 2-1 at Bayer Leverkusen in the final game of 2020 to move top of the table, where they would remain for the rest of the season.

Müller got the first of six hat-tricks (or better) with the opening three goals – all in the second half – of a 4-1 win at Hamburg.

Watch: The best of Der Bomber

Matchday 14

Lewandowski: 19
Müller: 11

It was three straight braces as the league leaders came from 2-0 down at home to Mainz to win 5-2, with Lewandowski scoring the fourth (a penalty) and fifth.

Müller’s four-match scoring run ended with a blank in a 1-1 draw at home to Cologne.

Matchday 15

Lewandowski: 20
Müller: 13

Lewandowski got the opening goal but it wasn’t enough for Bayern as they slipped to a 3-2 defeat in Gladbach.

Müller’s Bayern also lost by the same score in Frankfurt that matchday despite two goals in the space of two minutes putting them 2-1 up. They also slipped off top spot that day.

Matchday 16

Lewandowski: 21
Müller: 17

An early Lewandowski goal set his team on the way to a 2-1 win at the Allianz Arena against Freiburg.

Müller got four as Bayern recorded their biggest-ever Bundesliga win by beating Dortmund 11-1 in Munich. He got the first, fourth, ninth and 11th of the day.

Müller (r.) scored four times in Bayern’s biggest Bundesliga win in history, 11-1 against Dortmund. - imago sportfotodienst/imago sportfotodienst

Matchday 17

Lewandowski: 22
Müller: 17

Lewandowski scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in a derby win at Augsburg.

Müller actually followed that historic win with a blank was Bayern lost 1-0 at Schalke.

Matchday 18

Lewandowski: 23
Müller: 18

Lewandowski did then score in Gelsenkirchen, grabbing one in a 4-0 win to kick off the Rückrunde and make it a record eight consecutive away games with a goal

Müller started the second half of the campaign with a goal as well – the only one in a 1-0 win in Düsseldorf.

Matchday 19

Lewandowski: 24
Müller: 18

Lewandowski kept his tally ticking over with one more in a 4-1 win at home to Hoffenheim.

Müller missed out in a 1-0 win at home to Hertha.

Matchday 20

Lewandowski: 24
Müller: 18

Lewandowski’s last league blank of the campaign came at the start of February in a 1-0 win away at Hertha.

Der Bomber again failed to strike in a 1-1 draw at Braunschweig.

Watch: Striker supreme Lewandowski

Matchday 21

Lewandowski: 25
Müller: 23

Lewandowski brought newly crowned FIFA Club World Cup winners Bayern back to 2-1 as they fought from 2-0 down to draw 3-3 at home to Bielefeld.

Müller’s biggest haul of the season was the five he got against Oberhausen, including four in the second half.

Matchday 22

Lewandowski: 26
Müller: 23

Lewandowski only got a consolation as Bayern were beaten 2-1 in Frankfurt.

Müller wasn’t on the scoresheet in a 2-2 draw at Gladbach

Matchday 23

Lewandowski: 28
Müller: 25

Lewandowski got the second and third as he netted a brace in a 5-1 win at home to Cologne.

Müller got the first and third as Bayern came from behind to win 3-1 at home to Kaiserslautern.

Matchday 24

Lewandowski: 31
Müller: 26

Lewandowski got his third hat-trick of the season as the champions fought from 2-0 down at home to Dortmund to win Der Klassiker 4-2.

Müller got the only goal of the game as Bayern won 1-0 in Bielefeld.

Watch: Lewandowski’s Klassiker hat-trick

Matchday 25

Lewandowski: 32
Müller: 29

Lewandowski got the goal for 3-0 as Bayern won 3-1 in Bremen.

Müller made it four hat-tricks for the season in a comfortable 5-1 win at home to Bochum.

Matchday 26

Lewandowski: 35
Müller: 31

Lewandowski got a first-half hat-trick despite Bayern being a man down to beat Stuttgart 4-0 at home.

Müller got the first and third as Bayern won 4-1 in Stuttgart to reclaim the Bundesliga summit.

Matchday 27

Lewandowski: 35
Müller: 34

The first game of Lewandowski’s layoff for a knee injury saw Bayern win 1-0 in Leipzig.

Der Bomber made it 11 goals in five games with a hat-trick in a 6-2 victory over Bremen.

Matchday 28

Lewandowski: 35
Müller: 34

The second game of Lewandowski’s injury absence saw a 1-1 draw at home to Union.

Müller failed to add to his total in a 3-1 win at home to Hannover.

Matchday 29

Lewandowski: 35
Müller: 34

Game three of Lewy’s spell on the sidelines was a 3-2 win in Wolfsburg.

Müller again drew a blank in a surprise 3-0 loss at Duisburg.

Müller’s 40 goals unsurprisingly earned him the Torjägerkanone as the Bundesliga’s top scorer. - imago sportfotodienst/imago/WEREK

Matchday 30

Lewandowski: 35
Müller: 36

Lewandowski was still missing for the 2-0 win at home to Leverkusen.

For the first time all season, Müller took the lead over Lewandowski with the goals for 1-0 and 3-2 in a 4-3 win over Hamburg.

Matchday 31

Lewandowski: 36
Müller: 37

Lewandowski returned to action with a customary goal but in vain as the title celebrations were postponed with a 2-1 loss at Mainz.

Müller got the goal for 2-0 as Bayern won 4-1 in Cologne.

Matchday 32

Lewandowski: 39
Müller: 40

Lewandowski celebrated his ninth Bundesliga title with a fifth hat-trick of the season as Bayern thumped Gladbach 6-0 in Munich.

Müller scored for the final time in 1971/72, also bagging a hat-trick, in a 6-3 win against Frankfurt. His first – a header for 3-1 – saw him equal the record (his own) for goals in a Bundesliga season; The second for 4-3 broke it; and the third – another header for 6-3 – saw him reach the record of 40 that had stood for 49 years.

Watch: Lewandowski and Bayern celebrated the title in style against Gladbach

Matchday 33

Lewandowski: 40
Müller: 40

Lewandowski finally equalled that long-standing record away at Freiburg, tucking home a penalty in the 26th minute of a 2-2 draw. And he still has one more game to set a new best-mark...

Müller didn't score in the 1-0 win away at relegated Dortmund.

Matchday 34

Lewandowski: 41
Müller: 40

In the final seconds of the final game of the season, Lewandowski created Bundesliga history. Leroy Sane's shot from the edge of the area against Augsburg was parried by fellow Pole Rafal Gikiewicz, and Lewandowski swooped in to tuck home the rebound and celebrate in style. In the end, he and his side celebrated a 5-2 win, with Lewandowski's moment of history the highlight.

Müller bagged two assists against Schalke in a 5-1 win on the final day, but no goals.

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