Gareth Messenger

It’s without a doubt one of the greatest individual performances in the history of the UEFA Champions League. 

Borussia Dortmund scraped past Malaga in the previous round, but nobody expected such a dominant display against the most successful club in the history of the competition, Real Madrid. That was all thanks to Robert Lewandowski, who cast a spell on Europe and decimated the Spanish giants at Westfalenstadion on this day in 2013.

Such was Lewandowski’s dominance, even his simplest goal, a penalty, was taken with the kind of authority that astonished.

Dortmund damaged Madrid. It all started with a wonderful Mario Gotze delivery - a swirling right-foot cross from the left that found Lewandowski dashing in towards the far post. Lewandowski wrestled free off Pepe and launched himself at the ball to volley it into the net. The game was only eight minutes old.

Madrid probably thought themselves fortunate to go into half-time level at 1-1 after Cristiano Ronaldo finished off a Higuain ball. But five minutes into the second half, Dortmund were back in front. Sergio Ramos had furiously sprinted to the linesman to insist that Lewandowski had been offside when the Pole turned neatly and nudged past Diego Lopez from seven yards. He was wrong. 

The Westfalenstadion took a sharp intake of breath to find out when the second was eventually awarded, Lewandowski’s third took everybody’s breath away. 
After gathering the ball in a clustered penalty area, again he turned sharply on his right foot, spinning away from Pepe. This time, from further out, he fired a rocket shot into the top of the net – a brilliant effort to complete a brilliant trident of goals.

Lewandowski was not finished there. When Marco Reus was hauled down by Xabi Alonso, Dortmund had a penalty. And Lewandowski made no mistake with a finish as fierce as his run-up. 

It was a historic night. It was Dortmund’s night. It was Lewandowski’s night.