Lewandowski not to blame for Bayern struggles – Boateng

The Pole’s sparse goal record since joining the Bavarians has coincided with struggles for the entire side to score and the defender admitted improvements must come

Jerome Boateng has leapt to the defence of Bayern Munich team-mate Robert Lewandowski as his scoring struggles at club level continue.

The Pole, who joined the Bavarians on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund this summer, has scored just once in seven games as the reigning Bundesliga champions have netted only six times in their last five matches.

Lewandowski is suffering no such issues in finding the net at national team level, though, having bagged four goals as Poland opened their European Championship qualification campaign win over Gibraltar.

Boateng defended his new Allianz Arena team-mate, but accepts that performances must improve if Pep Guardiola’s men are to defend their domestic crown.

“Lewandowski is a world-class striker,” the Germany defender, who scored the side’s winner against Manchester City last week, told TZ. “He will still score loads of goals.

“However, there are no excuses for our current form. More effort just has to come from us.

“What’s missing is the completion of tactics, the last pass, accuracy and concentration.”

Lewandowski scored 103 goals in 187 games for Dortmund as he helped to fire them to the Champions League final, Bundesliga glory and DFB-Pokal success in his four years at Signal Iduna Park.

He was dropped for Bayern’s clash with Hamburg at the weekend and was unable to score when he came off the bench in the second half, with the game finishing 0-0.

Guardiola’s team are back in action on Tuesday against current Bundesliga table-toppers Paderborn, who were promoted from the second division in the summer.

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