Welcome to #Euro2016Rank, a weeklong look at the top 25 players we expect to see at the European Championship. Over 50 ESPN FC experts and writers from across the globe voted, and we're rolling out the results right up to opening day, when France plays Romania on June 10.
Why is Robert Lewandowski in the top 25?
Blessed with pace, aerial power, strength and the ability to fit within the type of fluid team structure that former Bayern coach Pep Guardiola prescribed, Lewandowski is the ultimate modern striker. This will be his second Euros, after being the leading man for Poland when they co-hosted Euro 2012. He will hope for better this time around; they exited the competition in the first round and he was a little disappointing. Since that time, and after leaving Borussia Dortmund for Bayern in the summer of 2014, he has become a much more complete player and has scored goals at a record-breaking rate.
What the experts say about Lewandowski:
"The biggest satisfaction you can get is when you take a player from Poland, from a small club and watch him play like he does today. The difference between that player we signed and the player he is today is unbelievable." -- former Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp, October 2015.
"I think [Lewandowski] has been the best player in the world for the past month. And if you are the world's best player even for a month or a week, it's some accolade. I think most of us would want to be the world's best player for a week. He has been a top, top, top, top player for the last four years." -- Scotland manager Gordon Strachan in October 2015, before Poland ended Scotland's hopes of reaching the Euros with a late Lewandowski goal in a 2-2 draw in Glasgow.
Career highlight:
His feat of scoring five goals in nine minutes on Sept. 22, 2015, against Wolfsburg was unprecedented; there is no record of anyone matching that in professional football history. It also set records for the fastest hat trick and most goals ever scored by a substitute in the Bundesliga.
Stat of the season:
He finished the 2015-16 season as the first man to score 30 goals in a Bundesliga campaign since Dieter Muller did the same for FC Cologne in the 1976-77 season.
What next for Lewandowski after Euro 2016?
At 27, he is at his peak, and a club of Bayern's wealth can surely price him out of the market.
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