Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 9y

Poland must not fear Germany, says Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski

Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski says that Poland should not fear Germany in their upcoming Euro 2016 qualifier and admits that adjusting to the system at his new club has been difficult.

On Saturday, Poland entertain World Cup winners Germany in Warsaw, hoping to build on their opening 7-0 Group D win over Gibraltar.

Bundesliga trio Sebastian Boenisch (Bayer Leverkusen), Pawel Olkowski (Cologne) and Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund) are also part of Adam Nawalka's White Eagles squad as is Grzegorz Wojtkowiak of second-tier club 1860 Munich.

According to Lewandowski's Munich teammate Jerome Boateng, the former Dortmund striker is "maybe the best attacker in the world right now" and he has also been singled out by Germany coach Joachim Low, who has warned his team that they will be up against "one of the best three attackers in the world."

At the weekend, Lewandowski's first brace for his new club in the 4-0 victory over Hannover handed him an extra confidence boost against the country he has called his home for over four years now.

"It will not be an easy game, but we don't have to fear them," Lewandowski told a news conference ahead of Saturday's clash. "We can beat them, if we can trigger our full potential." 

Whether Lewandowski is able to do just that, to trigger his full potential at Bayern Munich, was one of the major questions in Germany in the past few weeks.

Some papers and experts already wrote off the 26-year-old, when he only scored two goals in his first six Bundesliga appearances for the 2013 Champions League winners.

While critics do not dispute Lewandowski's level of talent, some of them questioned whether he could tap into his full potential in Bayern coach Pep Guardiola's system.

Speaking to Sport Bild, the Poland admitted that the first few weeks were indeed difficult.

"The opponents only park the bus. Even when we are 2-0 or 3-0 up. I don't know why," Lewandowski told the paper.

This also led to Lewandowski being man-marked even more than during his Dortmund days. "The switch [to the Bayern system] is difficult," he admitted.

"Sometimes it's frustrating, because there are three, four players around me all the time. I don't get as many balls and sometimes have to wait for a chance to score for a long time."

During Bayern's 1-0 win at CSKA Moscow in the Champions League, Lewandowski was seen out on the wings a number of times.

While especially during his final few games at Dortmund he also collected balls on the wings, and set up plays from there, he said that he feels most comfortable in attack.

"My position is in the middle, the No.9," he said.

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