According to new teammate Andreas Christensen, Robert Lewandowski will provide the ‘winning mindset’ that Barcelona need.
The Polish great has landed in Miami to finalise his transfer from Bayern Munich ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against David Beckham’s Inter Miami.
Lewandowski, 33, joins a Barcelona team that is struggling on and off the field after witnessing arch-rivals Real Madrid win the title and having well-documented financial issues that are causing problems behind the scenes.
Christensen, a Danish international, is convinced that the striker, who scored 348 goals in eight seasons in the Bundesliga, would light up Spanish football after his departure.
“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.”
The game on Tuesday is the first of four in the United States, beginning with a play against Real Madrid in Las Vegas, followed by a meeting with Juventus in Dallas, and concluding with a match against the New York Red Bulls on July 30th.
Christensen, who left Chelsea at the conclusion of last season and is set to make his Barcelona debut against Miami, has been pleased by the development of soccer’s popularity in North America, and he 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.”
