The brilliant Robert Lewandowski is facing a career without a fitting curtain call

Robert Lewandowski’s Barcelona lost out to Atlético Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final this season. Photograph: Bagu Blanco/Pressinphoto/Shutterstock While soccer’s calendar offers few moments of respite, the World Cup doubles as a time for referendums on the legacies of great players. Lionel Messi, Luka Modrić and Cristiano Ronaldo approach this summer’s tournament expecting it to be their final turn on their sport’s biggest stage.

Kevin De Bruyne and Casemiro could clarify their complicated international careers in North America; Neymar may not get the same chance . Missing a sendoff like this may be a bit more relatable to the life that we mortals endure. Indeed, there’s no crueler way for an international career to end than tripping at the final hurdle of World Cup qualification.

The United States’ failure to get a draw against Trinidad and Tobago in 2017 doubled as the final international match for three of the program’s best players: DaMarcus Beasley, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard. So painful was the sight of Gianluigi Buffon’s tear-stained cheeks after Italy’s unexpected flop in 2018 that the Azzurri brought him out of international retirement for one final friendly four months later. Related: ‘It’s not finished’: Lamine Yamal pledges Barcelona will fight to the end Then there’s the recent misery endured by Robert Lewandowski.

OK, maybe not so miserable: he collects a reported €400,000 a week at Barcelona. But the spring of 2026 provided the Poland striker with a chance to complete his impressive CV with a second continental title and leading Poland’s first run beyond a World Cup round of 16 since 1982. Instead, a pair of disappointments have expedited unwanted questions about the 37-year-old’s future.