Robert Lewandowski admits rationing out effort over last two months to maintain fitness | OneFootball

Barcelona are alive in all three major trophies going into the final stretch of the season, but as much as maintaining their form, they will need to maintain their fitness in order to finish with silverware. An injury to Marc Casado before the international break was a keen reminder of how quickly depth can be affected, while several players have been nursing fitness issues while away on duty.

Including Robert Lewandowski, who limped out of Poland’s win over Lithuania last week, and was a doubt for their Monday night clash with Malta. Several reports claimed that Ferran Torres was likely to start on Thursday against Osasuna in his stead. The 36-year-old came on in the 66th minute of their 2-0 victory, despite being a doubt for the game, but after the match cleared up doubts about his fitness or a potential pact between the Polish team and Barcelona.

“No, no, no, I haven’t even spoken to anyone at Barcelona about that. There was no such thing at all. No, there’s no injury. Sometimes something hurts for two or three days, sometimes it goes away. Everything was fine. Against Malta, I came on without any problems,” Lewandowski told TVSport, as quoted by Sport.

Image via Deportivo Alaves

“I feel much better than before this international training camp because then there were some pains in the last three games, for example, the fact that I couldn’t kick with my right leg even once, even during warm-ups. Now everything’s back to normal, so it’s a plus that I’m back to the fitness I had two or three weeks ago.”

Lewandowski also admitted that he had been picking and choosing his moments in 2025 so far in order to be fighting fit for the final stage of the season.

“I prepared for the end of the season to maintain that freshness. I knew this season would be different than usual, because in January there was the Champions League and then the playoffs. I knew this season would really start, you could say, in this period after the international break.”

“Now the most important games are coming, so I’m not going to lie, somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking about not giving it my all during these last two, two and a half months, in order to maintain this freshness and momentum.”

The ability to last the season is a question mark that has been thrown at Lewandowski’s feet on multiple occasions, after a weak season last year, and a fast start this season that has slowed in recent months. The Blaugrana will be hoping Lewandowski’s words are a promise that they will see the best of their veteran number nine in the decisive phase of the campaign.