"You need to be lucky" - Robert Lewandowski makes honest admission about Barcelona's Champions League hopes

Robert Lewandowski has admitted that luck will have to play a role if Barcelona are to do well in this season's UEFA Champions League.

The Blaugrana have won the competition five times and have been the losing finalists thrice. Nevertheless, they enter each Champions League season as one of the favorites.

However, they failed to go beyond the group stage in the last two seasons. That marked the first time they failed to make the knockouts in consecutive seasons since the 1998-99 campaign.

This time, the defending La Liga champions are clubbed with Porto, Royal Antwerp and Shakhtar Donetsk. On paper, it's an easier group than last season (Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Viktoria Plzen) and the season before (Benfica, Bayern and Dynamo Kyiv).

However, Lewandowski isn't taking anything for granted. The 35-year-old Polish superstar reckons Barcelona will need luck among other factors to perform well in this season's Champions League.

At the presentation of the docuseries 'FC Barcelona, a new era', 'Lewy' told Movistar Plus+ (h/t @Barca_Buzz on X):

"On paper, it seems that way (if their group is easier this season), but we have to be prepared because it won't be an easy group for us, you need to be lucky, that all the people are well, but I am sure that we have great players, a great atmosphere in the locker room and we are prepared for it."

Barcelona begin their Champions League campaign against Royal Antwerp on Tuesday (September 19) at the Camp Nou.

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A look at Barcelona star Robert Lewandowski's Champions League record

Robert Lewandowski will have to play a big role if Barcelona are to win the Champions League for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign.

The former Borussia Dortmund hitman is more than familiar with what's needed to win the competition. He won his only Champions League title in the 2019-20 season with Bayern and won the Golden Boot for scoring 15 goals.

Lewandowski boasts an impressive tally of 91 goals and 25 assists in 111 Champions League games. He's third on the list of goalsccorers in the competition, trailing only Lionel Messi (129) and Cristiano Ronaldo (140).

With Messi at Inter Miami and Ronaldo at Al-Nassr, Lewandowski will look to close that gap further. He has scored five or more goals in the Champions League in the last 11 seasons and is widely regarded as one of the best strikers to grace the competition. The Pole, though, is yet to score in a Champions League final in two attempts.