Lewandowski continues to struggle at Barcelona

It has not been a fairytale start to Robert Lewandowski's career at FC Barcelona. After forcing a move to join the Catalan giants form FC Bayern Munich, he immediately joined his new teammates for their pre-season tour of the United States. However, the club's marquee signing of the summer failed to score a single goal in America.

Europe's top scorer made his Barcelona debut during a friendly El Clasico against Real Madrid last week. Fellow new arrival Raphinha scored the lone goal of the match, with Lewandowski hardly making an impact on the pitch. In their 2-2 draw against Juventus a few days later, it was Ousmane Dembele who provided the two goals.

On Saturday, Barcelona faced the New York Red Bulls in their final match in the US, and the forward line was visibly seeking out Lewandowski to help him open his account. Unfortunately, his attempts were either saved by the NYFC keeper, or they were well off the mark and over the crossbar.

Newly re-signed Dembele eventually scored for Barcelona before the end of the first half. After the break, Lewandowski continued to struggle before being replaced by Memphis Depay in the 73rd minute. Incidentally, it was the Dutchman who scored the second Barcelona goal after taking over from the Polish star.

It is still early days for Lewandowski, but he would have wanted a more explosive start to his Barcelona career. Unfortunately, the fireworks are coming from other places outside the pitch.

Lewandowski continues to have a war of words with his former club after a tense few months which led to his transfer. According to Mundo Deportivo, he thinks that the club had to lie and create a scenario that made it easier to explain his departure. "What happened in the final weeks before I left Bayern was also politics. The club wanted to look for a fight in order to justify my sale because maybe it was difficult to explain to the fans."

He then pointed out the "false" reports about his alleged anger over Bayern's interest in signing Haaland. "They were false things, but in the end I know that the fans, even at this time, continue to support me a lot," he said.