Poland beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 on Saturday in their second game at the World Cup in Qatar, on goals from Piotr Zieliński and Lewandowski, taking a significant step toward advancing to the knockout stages of the tournament.
A social media video showed a passionate Saudi Arabian fan pulling off his shirt after Lewandowski's goal to reveal that he was wearing a Poland jersey underneath with Lewandowski's name on the back, the dailymail.co.uk website reported. The fan started dancing and cheering.
He repeated the gesture when he met Lewandowski in Doha after the match, dancing happily in front of the Polish marksman, the Reuters news agency reported.
Lewandowski on Saturday scored the first World Cup goal of his prolific career at the age of 34 in his team's Group C win over Saudi Arabia.
Poland tied 0-0 with Mexico in their first game at the World Cup in Qatar. They now need a draw in their final group-stage game against Argentina on Wednesday to secure a spot in the knockout stages of the competition.
Poland boss Czesław Michniewicz said on Friday that Lewandowski would continue to take penalty kicks for the national team despite failing to convert a spot kick in its World Cup opener against Mexico.
Michniewicz's men are scheduled to face off against Argentina at Stadium 974 in Doha in their final group-stage fixture on November 30.
Poland are ranked No. 26 worldwide by world football's governing body FIFA. Meanwhile, Argentina are in third place; Mexico are ranked 13th, and Saudi Arabia are at No. 51 in the FIFA table.
Teams from 32 nations will play a total of 64 matches at eight stadiums in Qatar during this year's World Cup, which kicked off on November 20 and runs until December 18.
According to a study by experts at London's Alan Turing Institute, Brazil are in the best position to win the World Cup in Qatar, while Poland are the 16th-most likely winner.
Poland qualified for the 2022 World Cup after defeating Sweden 2-0 in a playoff at home in late March.
Lewandowski, Poland's all-time top scorer, bagged nine goals in his team’s World Cup qualifying campaign.
The 34-year-old Barcelona striker has scored 77 goals in 136 appearances for Poland.
Qatar is his second World Cup after the 2018 tournament in Russia.
The Polish team failed to advance to the knockout phase of the 2018 World Cup in Russia after losing 1-2 to Senegal and 0-3 to Colombia in the group stage. Poland won their final game, beating Japan 1-0, but finished bottom of their Group H and made an early exit from the tournament more than four years ago.
Poland finished third in the 1974 World Cup in West Germany and were also third in Spain in 1982.
(gs)
Source: TVP, IAR, PAP, Reuters, dailymail.co.uk