How did Robert Lewandowski use Polish to hide set-piece calls at Bayern Munich?

Robert Lewandowski said Bayern Munich teammates learned a few simple Polish words, such as first and second, to assign near-post and far-post runs on set pieces, because no opponent would understand them. After 12 years speaking German, he took a teacher for three months when he moved to Barcelona and kept studying on flights and before bed until he could hold a conversation in Spanish.

• Lewandowski said English and Spanish together let him talk to most of the football world.
• Lewandowski said learning each country's culture, in Germany, Spain and now the US, is how he makes a place feel like home.

▸In their words

“Because we know that nobody understands the Polish.” Robert Lewandowski · at 2:37:08 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Pardon My Take (2026-10-30). Read the whole episode summary →

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