Robert Lewandowski arrived at FC Barcelona in 2022 and helped Barça win their first LaLiga title in four years with his 23 goals, making him "pichichi" or top goalsocrer of the competition. However, he was asked by the club to stop scoring goals... so that the club wouldn't have to pay a bonus to Bayern Munich, his former club.
The Polish striker has revealed it in his biography 'Lewandowski. Prawdziwy' ('Lewandowski. The Real'), written by Sebastian Staszewski. According to him, Robert met with some Barcelona executives two matchdays before the end of the season, and said "Robert, we need you to stop scoring goals in the last two matches". The footballer was left stunned, because nobody had ever asked him something like that (via Marca).
The reason? Barcelona was forced to pay Bayern a 2,5 million bonus if the player scored 25 or more goals. The club was already mathematically champion, and Lewandowski won the Pichichi title anyway, so everything went their ways. And the player obeyed and did not score in those two matches...
The player apparently talks a lot about the precarious financial situation for the club, as he recalled that when he asked why there was so little variety in the food, the club's chef said that they "had to save money".