Bayern Munich's Serge Gnabry and Robert Lewandowski break Cristiano Ronaldo-Gareth Bale goals record
Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry made history as the most prolific single-season strike partnership of the UEFA Champions League era in Bayern Munich's 3-0 UEFA Champions League semi-final win over Lyon, breaking the record previously held by Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.
Gnabry scored two first-half goals against Lyon to take his tournament tally to nine for the season, before runaway FIFA Men's Best Player candidate Lewandowski put away his competition-leading 15th late on.
The duo have now accounted for 24 of Bayern's 42 goals ahead of Sunday's final against Paris Saint-Germain. Real Madrid hit 37 goals when they lifted 2013/14 trophy, with Ronaldo and Bale totalling 23 combined.
Gnabry scored his first four Champions League goals of the 2019/20 season in the group stage, as Bayern recorded a crushing 7-2 win away to English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. The Germany international dished out another lesson in capital punishment with a brace in the record champions' 3-0 triumph at Chelsea in their last-16 first leg. He struck again in Bayern's 8-2 rout of Barcelona in the quarter-finals, before running roughshod over a Lyon side that had knocked out Juventus and Manchester City in the previous rounds.
Lewandowski's performances in front of goal have been even more hair-raising. The 31-year-old has scored in all nine of his Champions League appearances so far this term, including braces in meetings with Tottenham, Olympiacos and Chelsea, and the quickest four-goal haul in the competition's history - against Red Star Belgrade. He is now on a barely fathomable 55 goals in 46 competitive matches in 2019/20.
Watch: How Lewandowski became the world's best No.9
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Lewandowski might have scored more by this stage, had he not been rested for Bayern's final group encounter at home to Tottenham. This season's competition has also been reformatted in response to the coronavirus pandemic, with the quarter- and semi-finals played out in single-leg format.
Lewandowski is, nevertheless, on the longest scoring run since Ronaldo registered 15 goals across 10 successive Champions League matches in 2017/18. If that streak continues in Sunday's final against PSG, the Bayern forward could well claim the outright record for most single-season goals by one player.
Ronaldo's 17-goal best-mark of 2013/14 is the score to beat - but if anyone can do it, it's LewanGOALski.
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