Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski has hit out at former club Bayern Munich, accusing them of making up "bulls---" in order to appease the club's supporters over his exit.
Lewandowski was speaking exclusively to ESPN FC's Cristina Alexander in his first interview since moving to the Camp Nou earlier this month for an initial €45 million fee. The full interview can be viewed here.
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Lewandowski was asked about reports that his desire to leave Bayern was based on their rumoured pursuit of striker Erling Haaland, who subsequently left Borussia Dortmund to join Manchester City.
"No, that was nothing to do with Erling," he said. "I am the guy who even if something's not good for me -- truth is more important. I don't want to speak about what happened exactly. But if the question is if the decision to move was because of him, no, I didn't see the problem if he joined Bayern Munich.
"But some kind of people doesn't say to me the truth, say something different," he continued. "And for me it was always important to be clear, to stay true, and maybe for a few people that was the problem. And in the end I know that something doesn't work well with my person as well and I knew that, OK I see and I feel that maybe it's a good time to move out of Bayern Munich and join Barcelona.
"I had a very good relationship with my teammates, with the staff, with the coach, and these are all things I'm going to miss because I spent a beautiful time there. And we were not only friends from the pitch but also something more. But in the end this chapter is over and I open a new chapter in my life and a new chapter in my career.
"So I feel that I'm in the right position, right place. So everything that's happened in the last maybe few weeks before I left Bayern Munich, that was also of course a lot of politics. The club tried to find an argument why they can sell me to another club because before it was difficult to explain maybe to the fans. And I had to accept that even though it was a lot of bulls---, a lot of s--- said about me. Not true, but in the end I knew that the fans, even in this period, still support me a lot."
The Poland international had made it clear through a series of public interviews from the end of last season into the summer that he was ready to leave Bayern after eight seasons. However, Bayern initially refused to countenance an exit for a player who scored 344 goals in 375 appearances for them.
Bayern chief executive Oliver Kahn said in a statement at the time of the transfer: "We have agreed to release Robert Lewandowski. We have a verbal agreement with FC Barcelona, the contract is still pending.
"We know very well what we have to thank Robert for, but great players have also left FC Bayern in the past, and even after that, Bayern's world did not fall apart. On the contrary, it often continued with even more success."
Lewandowski, 33, has twice won the Golden Boot for Europe's leading goal scorer and finished as runner-up for the 2021 Ballon d'Or.