New Boy Surprised by Barcelona: ‘I Didnt Expect It To Be So Great’

Gety Lewandowski celebrates scoring for Barcelona.

Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski has opened up on his summer move to Camp Nou and has admitted he has been pleasantly surprised by life with the Catalan giants.

Lewandowski arrived in the summer and joined Barca after another traumatic season. Club legend Xavi had arrived in November to replace Ronald Koeman after a poor start to the campaign.

The striker has told Kanał Sportowy that when he arrived for pre-season training with his new club he was pleasantly surprised by the quality on offer in the sessions.

“I must tell you that when we had the preparation period, I didn’t expect it to be so great and so positively intensive. I expected it to be weaker,” he said. “If I were to compare these preparations with the ones at Bayern Munich, how it looks like here and how it was with Holger Broich, I’m positively surprised that it’s really similar.”

Lewandowski was part of the Bayern side that hammered Barcelona 8-2 in the Champions League back in 2020 but said the training sessions at his new club are not so different from those with Bundesliga champions..

“The training is quite hard but often similar to the ones at Bayern Munich, when it comes to their quality and running without the ball,” he added. “I know these training sessions and they’re really effective. I was positively astonished how hard training was and how we coped with them. I don’t mean that we pushed ourselves to the limit without thinking. It was all thought through.  I like it because it’s beneficial and effective.”

The 34-year-old has made an impressive start to life at Barcelona, scoring 12 goals in his first eight games with the club and also contributing two assists.

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Lewandowski on Xavi

Lewandowski was also happy to share his thought on coach Xavi. The Barca boss has also made a big impact on the club since taking charge and is yet to be beaten away from home in La Liga.

The former Bayern man says Xavi knows how he wants the team to improve from last season and feels the quality of the coach’s training sessions will shine through as the season progresses.

“I think he knows when to shout or advise a player. Up to this point, I haven’t noticed that if something didn’t go well he’d scream or throw boots in the lockers room. He always explains everything clearly, tell us what we do badly and how to adjust it,” he said. “He’s aware of what went wrong last season in contrary to what he dreamed of and I see that he wants to make it better. I’m definitely satisfied with the quality of the training here and what what we do afterwards. Some players wouldn’t notice but with my knowledge and experience I know how important these physical preparations are. I can spot the difference when someone isn’t well prepared. In the context of the whole season, this is a great value.”

Xavi’s side have won six of seven La Liga games so far in 2022-23, scoring 19 times and conceding just once. The only disappointment in the Spanish top flight so far has been a goalless draw with Rayo Vallecano on the opening day.

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