Lewandowski will bring ‘winning mentality’ to Barca: Christensen

Miami (AFP) – Robert Lewandowski will bring the ‘winning mentality’ Barcelona need according to new team-mate Andreas Christensen.

The Polish superstar has arrived in Miami to complete his move to the La Liga giants from Bayern Munich ahead of Tuesday’s friendly with David Beckham’s Inter Miami.

Lewandowski, 33, joins with Barcelona struggling on and off the pitch after seeing arch-rivals Real Madrid win the title and well documented financial problems causing problems behind the scenes.

But Danish international Christensen is adamant the striker, who scored 348 goals in eight seasons in the Bundesliga, will light up Spanish football following his move.

“It’s been easy for him to integrate into the squad,” the defender told AFP ahead of a Barca training session in south Florida which was attended by around 1,000 fans.

“The team has been good at making players feel welcome but he has the qualities and the winning mentality we need.

“His qualities are obvious. Everyone is happy that he is here and he can push us and share his experiences. It’s great for the team to have him.”

Tuesday’s game is the start of a four-match tour of the United States with a clash against Real in Las Vegas followed by a meeting with Juventus in Dallas before finishing up against the New York Red Bulls on July 30th.

Christensen, who left Chelsea at the end of last season and is poised to make his Barcelona debut against Miami, has been impressed with the growth in popularity of soccer in North America and added: “It’s difficult to follow everything because the games are in the middle of the night but I’ve spoken about the growth of the game in the United States with Christian Pulisic when I was at Chelsea and it’s really growing here.

“People know about Inter Miami because of David Beckham and certainly the training facilities here are top notch.”

“We are all really excited,” said Inter Miami coach Phil Neville who promised to send out a strong team despite this encounter coming in the middle of a crucial part of the MLS season for the former Manchester United and Everton midfielder. 

“This is the biggest game in the club’s history because we are playing a team in a sold out stadium who are an institution, one of the biggest sports teams in the whole world.

“That’s why it’s so big. We aren’t here to get autographs though, we want to compete.”