As per reports, Lewandowski had reached 23 league goals in the 2022-23 La Liga campaign, and a clause in his transfer agreement meant that scoring two more would activate an additional €2.5M payment to his former club, Bayern Munich.
During an interview with Polish journalist Bogdan Rymanowski (via Marca), Lewandowski confirmed that this was asked of him and admitted that it affected his goal scoring ability.
“I don’t really want to talk about. I have too much respect for Barcelona and for the people who work there. I was aware of the situation the club was in. There were many other situations where you had to sacrifice something personally for the good of the club.
“In short, it was about a bonus that would have to be paid depending on the number of goals I scored. And at that time, Barcelona was looking for every single euro. The bonus wasn’t a small amount. For me personally, it wouldn’t have changed anything, so I didn’t really have a problem with it.
“Did I listen to them? Well… it stays in your head. It stays there, even if it’s just a small percentage, but it was enough that once I actually hesitated—whether to score a goal or not. And at the highest level of football, that’s enough.”
Lewandowski did not score across those final two matches against Mallorca and Celta Vigo, despite playing all 180 available minutes. Barcelona’s prolonged financial crisis is still ongoing and the Polish striker is set to leave at the end of the season.