Lewandowski: Working with Guardiola at Bayern prepared me for transfer to Barcelona

Robert Lewandowski believes playing under Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich was the perfect preparation for his move to Barcelona, ​​as he compared Blaugrana boss Xavi to his former manager.

Guardiola was a year into a three-season spell with the Bavarian giants when Lewandowski joined rivals Borussia Dortmund in 2014, with the striker scoring 67 goals in 100 appearances under him in all competitions.

After ending his Bayern career with 344 goals in all competitions, Lewandowski - one of many new faces at Camp Nou - scored for the first time in Barça colors three minutes after the 6th friendly -0 on Sunday against Pumas UNAM.

As Xavi looks to lead Barca to a title challenge in his first full season at the helm, Lewandowski has identified similarities with Manchester City manager Guardiola.

"Guardiola's philosophy and style of caring for and managing the team, I think, was basically Barca at Bayern Munich," Lewandowski told Sport.

"Xavi is a lot like Guardiola. They were both 'sixes', they worked together. They think about football the same way.

"With that memory in mind, Barça was the only option for me, and it was great preparation when I was there.

"I didn't speak to Guardiola before signing. But when I was with him at Bayern, it was like excellent preparation to arrive at Barça one day.

"All the staff were Spanish, there were eight Spanish players. During this period I had a very good relationship with Thiago [Alcantara] and Javi Martinez. Both of them congratulated me when I signed for Barça."