Robert Lewandowski has moved level with one of Cristiano Ronaldo's finest records.
By notching his 69th strike of 2021 during Bayern Munich's win over Wolfsburg on Friday, the Polish striker matched the most prolific calendar year tally that Ronaldo has amassed in his career.
When you consider that Ronaldo is viewed by many as the greatest goalscorer in history, it truly is incredible that Lewandowski has matched him with his finishing over the last 12 months.
Lewandowski vs Messi
Well, that and the fact that it makes Lionel Messi's breath-taking total of 91 goals across 2012 look all the more unbelievable.
However, let's not stray too far away from the Lewandowski vs Ronaldo trail because we wanted to take a closer look at how the legendary strikers compare after drawing level with their finest years.
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In fact, specifically, we wanted to wonder whether or not Lewandowski and Ronaldo are quite so closely matched in their greatest ever seasons just as they are in their most prolific calendar years.
Well, to find out, we took what we consider to be each player's greatest seasons and contrasted their statistics using the player comparison tool on WhoScored.com.
And seeing as both players are rightfully revered for their goalscoring in particular, we thought that the least controversial way to pick their prime seasons would be selecting their most prolific one.
Comparing their prime seasons
For Ronaldo, that means the 2014/15 season in which he rattled home 61 goals for Real Madrid and the 2019/20 campaign is the order of the day for Lewandowski with 55 strikes with Bayern.
But we're not just ending the debate with their top-line goal statistics because the WhoScored engine can look at far much more with defensive and passing data also available to view.
So, what's the verdict then? Well, let's start by getting stuck into Ronaldo and Lewandowski's league data in La Liga and the Bundesliga respectively during their prime seasons down below:
In terms of league football, it's an absolute whitewash for Ronaldo as he outdoes Lewandowski for goals, assists and Man of the Match awards as well as boasting a superior average match rating.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner even comes out on top for clearances and blocks per game, while also being dribbled past less and boasting a superior pass completion rate for good measure.
Comparing Champions League stats
But what about the Champions League? Well, that's where things get tasty because Lewandowski just happened to have one of the greatest Europe seasons in living memory during his prime year.
While Ronaldo registered 10 goals, three assists, two Man of the Match awards and an average match rating of 7.83 in 2014/15, he simply couldn't compete with Lewandowski's 2019/20 statistics.
The Bayern star was the highest-rated player in the Champions League with an outrageous average of 9.03 informed by 15 goals, five assists and six MOTM awards from just 10 matches. Madness.
So, it really does come down to which competition you value the most because Ronaldo's prime season is the clear victor domestically whereas Lewandowski's zenith takes the win in Europe.
Either way, though, let it serve as further proof that Lewandowski's insane goalscoring in recent seasons genuinely puts him up there with Ronaldo. Yes, we said it.
