Bundesliga Team of the Season Part 3: The Attack

Yeah, you probably know who will be here…

Welcome back to the Bundesliga Team of the Season. Previously, we named our midfield three, and today we name our front three. These are pretty obvious, let us get right to it.

Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

I mean, obviously.

Robert Lewandowski is the best goal scorer on the planet. He might very well be the best player in the world right now. While I would give that title to Messi, Lewandowski sure puts up a hell of an argument.

It’s the very first stat. 40 goals. FORTY. In 28 games.

That is 43% of Bayern’s 94 league goals. He has actually scored almost as many goals as Bayern have conceded in the league this season (42).

It actually happened yesterday, him scoring his 40th goal to equal Gerd Müller’s single-season Bundesliga record. It was a moment of history for a player who has rewritten and will likely continue to rewrite Bundesliga records should he remain in Bavaria for the next few seasons. He is likely one of, if not the best player to play in the Bundesliga at least in the last 20 years, and I am sure that there will be debates in the next several decades about who was better between him and Gerd Müller. A fantastic goalscorer with an incredible sense of where to be and when to be there, he can basically score when he wants at this point. Had he not gotten injured while on national team duty with Poland, it is very possible that Bayern do not get knocked out of the Champions League by PSG. Maybe it could be the Bavarians in the Final right now against Chelsea, rather than Manchester City? Who knows, really.

All I know is that Lewandowski was dead certain to be in this team. Had there been a Ballon d’Or awarded in 2020, it is very likely Lewandowski would have won it. Should there be one awarded this year, you truly do fancy the Pole to walk away with it.

Erling Håland (Borussia Dortmund)

Again, there was no real doubt, was there?

Erling Håland might very well be the best young striker we have seen in quite some time. A seeming football robot, he is a man that combines an incredible set of physical gifts with the ability to score absurd amounts of goals. He has not quite hit the Lewandowski levels of goalscoring, but 25 goals in 26 games this season is nothing to scoff at. In a season where Dortmund struggled for large portions, it might be a bit surprising that he even scored as regularly as he did. Had he been playing for a better team that was able to create more chances, maybe he does get up into the 30s at least.

Dortmund’s second half of the season resurgence has been largely lead by Håland, hence his second Player of the Month award, and there might not be a player more important to die Schwarzgelben than the lanky Norwegian monster. It looks as though Dortmund will be in the UCL next season, which could mean one more year of Håland in Westphalia. Him combining with incoming coach Marco Rose is a very interesting proposition, as Dortmund could finally assemble a team good enough to challenge Bayern at the top of the table. But if he does choose to leave Dortmund, then we might see the greatest transfer duel since…well…since I don’t know when.

You see that I have not really talked much about why Lewandowski or Håland should be in this team, just summarizing their seasons and what it looks like moving forward for them. That is because, like with Lewandowski, Håland’s inclusion is unquestionable. He is simply phenomenal. Moving on.

André Silva (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Here is a slightly more controversial one, but still a player who should probably be in without question when considering everything.

André Silva is a name some of you might remember. He broke into the spotlight at Porto before making a move to Milan that did not quite work out. After a loan to Sevilla, he was loaned to Eintracht Frankfurt, with the Portuguese impressing enough for die Adler that the club agreed to a swap deal with Milan that sent Ante Rebić the other way. While you can say that the move worked out for all parties, as Rebić has been very solid for Milan, they might be a bit upset that they did not get this version of André Silva.

Silva has been nothing short of fantastic this season, with a goals-to-games record of 27 goals in 31 games that is good enough to get him in the same conversation as the players listed above him here. It is also the single season goalscoring record for Eintracht Frankfurt, a record he broke with his second goal in a 4-3 loss to Schalke yesterday. Despite Eintracht’s decline in recent weeks that could keep them out of the Champions League next season, Silva has had a great campaign and can be credited for being largely responsible for Eintracht’s successes.

As a player who is not as fast or as physical as Håland or as lethal as Lewandowski, he serves as a nice middle ground, combining traits from both players to form a unique striker archetype. He fits Eintracht’s more aggressive style of attacking, able to move very well off the ball and find good positions to be on the receiving end of a key pass from Eintracht’s main creators. His ability to score is probably a large reason why Eintract have the league’s two joint-second highest assisters in Filip Kostić and Daichi Kamada. He is also likely the reason why Eintracht are the league’s third highest scorers, trailing only, you guessed it, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. He is definitely one of the main reasons why Eintracht were challenging for Champions League places this season, and even though it looks like they will not finish in the top four, it should take nothing away from Silva’s incredible season. He is one to keep an eye on as Portugal look to defend their Euros crown this summer.

And there you have it. The front three to round out our Bundesliga Team of the Season. The team would look something like this:

Come back tomorrow for when we round out the final part of this series and highlight some honorable mentions. Agree with my picks? Think I left someone out? Let me know in the comments!