It cannot be denied that vintage gives off a certain flavor of authenticity. Giving objects a second life is always a good idea. And in Barcelona there is nothing more retro than the Gündogan-Lewandowski connection, two footballers in their thirties who met again in Barcelona's first goal.
If in December 2012 someone had told Gündogan and Lewandowski that the midfielder would not assist the forward again until 11 years later, the two Borussia Dortmund teammates would have laughed. And a lot. That team, coached by Jürgen Klopp, looked very good, so much so that they reached the Champions League final.
But football sometimes has its quirks and its way of getting twisted. The universe wanted that in the Pole's last season at Borussia, the German barely played two games. Then each one told his story.
Until yesterday. They did it very far from the Rhein Neckar Arena, the Hoffenheim stadium where the midfielder scored 1-3 for his fellow scorer. They did it in Riyadh, 4,500 km away. Surely in 2012 they did not even imagine that in 2024 they would be in Saudi Arabia playing the Spanish Super Cup, but thanks to their search and connection, Barça got a foot in the final.
Captain of Manchester City that won the treble last season, Gündogan got the ticket to seek his first title with the Blaugrana shirt. In the same city where Robert Lewandowski debuted his record at Barça. The Pole has played three games in the Super Cup and in all three he has scored: against Betis and Madrid a year ago and now against Osasuna.
Xavi is making the most of Gündogan, who is the only one who has played in every game this season, including the one in Antwerp, where the coach wanted to save him the trip and ended up playing. And the German is not hiding. He did not do it in his first classic (he scored) nor in Las Palmas, when he took responsibility for taking the 1-2 penalty.
Against Osasuna he intervened 104 times and had a 96% success rate in the pass. In charge of the set piece, he was masterful when he waited, moved until he saw the gap to filter the pass to Lewandowski, who cut back and shot at goal. His seventh assist.
The Pole is having a harder time than usual this season, but he has finally surpassed ten goals. There are already 11 with the two in 2024. In addition, he has already celebrated in the four competitions: eight in the League, Antwerp in the Champions League, Barbastro in the Cup and Osasuna in the Super Cup, thanks to a connection that 11 years later does not exist. had forgotten.
