Robert Lewandowski has squashed any suggestion of a fractured relationship between himself and Bayern Munich by wishing his former club well against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
The Poland international left Bayern last summer after almost a decade at the Allianz Arena, where he moved to from Borussia Dortmund. Lewandowski scored a mammoth 344 goals in 375 matches for the Bundesliga club, winning 13 major honours.
However, the 34-year-old decided he wanted to a fresh challenge and made the £35million switch to Barcelona in July 2022. In the process, Lewandowski became the most-expensive Polish player ever and Bayern's record sale in their decorated 123-year history.
Just a matter of months after making the move to Camp Nou, Lewandowski was set to return to Bayern as the pair were drawn against each other in the Champions League group stage. It proved to be a disappointing return for Lewandowski as his Barcelona side were beaten 2-0 in Germany on September 13.
Six weeks later, Lewandowski faced Bayern in the reverse tie - and it was a similar outcome as Barcelona were soundly defeated 3-0. Also placed in a group with Inter Milan, Xavi's side finished third, meaning they had to settle for a spot in the Europa League play-off round.
Bayern, who finished top of their Champions League group, were drawn against PSG in the last 16 and won the first-leg 1-0 in Paris. All they needed to do was to avoid defeat in Germany on Wednesday evening to qualify for the quarter-finals.
During the second leg, Lewandowski was spotted watching his former side and supporting them as they aimed to secure their passage to the next round. Along with the motto 'Auf geht's Bayern', which means 'Let's go Bayern' in German, the Barca striker wanted to show his love for the club in which he represented for nine years.
Julian Nagelsmann's side safely progressed to the quarters thanks to a 2-0 success on the night and a 3-0 aggregate triumph. Erik Maxim Chupo-Moting scored Bayern's first before Serge Gnabry added a second to advance to the last eight for the fourth successive campaign.
After the game, Nagelsmann told DAZN: "In the first half, we didn’t do what we had spoken about before very well. There was too much space. We defended better in the second half and were dangerous on the ball. In the end, we deserved to win."
Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe struggled to make an impact for PSG over both legs against Bayern, and Nagelsmann has revealed his players had a specific gameplan to nullify the superstar duo.
He added, per L'Equipe: "I especially liked our generosity. We were able to use PSG to win on points. I would also like to praise (defender) Josip Stanisic, who has been exceptional. We were able to control PSG with our game plan, which did not allow them to develop their actions.'
Nagelsmann continued: "The fact that Kylian Mbappe was unable to stand out is proof that we were there. We saw that Lionel Messi often went very low (deep) and we were able to isolate Mbappe."
