Robert Lewandowski’s agent says the striker has been unfairly criticized

Robert Lewandowski was significantly criticized for his performances in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the Champions League against Sevilla and then Real Madrid, respectively. The striker failed to score in any of the four legs between the two rounds and was arguably performing below par for his standards.

Speaking to SportBild, Lewandowski’s agent Maik Barthel said that the criticism was completely unprecedented, especially for the striker who scored 29 goals for Bayern Munich this season in the Bundesliga:

You can always criticize players, but doing it in this way is not right. Robert has scored 30 and 29 goals in the Bundesliga and is now held responsible for the team’s exit against Madrid. That’s really is pretty strange.

Pointing the finger at Lewandowski for the lack of goals against Real Madrid, Barthel feels, is ridiculous and he’s shocked that so many pundits joined in on the denigrating of the striker:

It’s strange and unfair that these so-called experts are putting all the blame for the loss to Madrid on just one player.

Barthel’s remarks were in part a retaliation to Oliver Kahn, Paul Breitner, and Sepp Maier, who had all publicly voiced their discontent with Lewandowski’s performances against Real Madrid. They were all of the opinion that Bayern Munich outplayed Madrid over the two-legs, but “without Lewandowski.”

With training ground dust-ups, transfer rumors, and his recent snub at shaking Jupp Heynckes’ hand after being subbed off, it’s been an interesting season for Lewandowski to say the least. His attitude in training sessions had been questioned by his teammates on more than one occasion and his decision to not shake Heynckes’ hand after being subbed off vs. FC Koln prompted a stern talking to from the boss. The perception of the incident was that Lewandowski was frustrated that he wasn’t kept on so that he could try to get his 30th goal of the season.

What do you think, does Barthel make a fair point in defense of the 2017/2018 Torjägerkanone?