It’s Clasico weekend between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, arguably the best game in the world at club level. Since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo (37) from LaLiga, we have been without a great individual head-to-head between players from both teams. Now, with the arrival of Lewandowski (34), we once again have a duel of the highest order upfront. The Pole and Karim Benzema (34) will battle it out to see who is more decisive in the run-up to the Ballon d’Or gala on Monday 17 October.
They are two footballing giants with completely different styles. However, they both seek the same target: the goal. Benzema enjoys associative football, making his team-mates play to help him score. Lewandowski is vertical, direct and lethal, the fewer touches it takes to score, the better. Curiously enough, the Poland international is the antithesis of the tiki-taka style advocated since the Johan Cruyff era in Barcelona.
With the figures for the current campaign in hand, many would argue that there really won’t be a duel because the Barça player is far superior. He has so far scored 14 goals in 12 official matches in the Blaugrana shirt – nine in LaLiga and five in the Champions League – and has accompanied them with two assists. That means he has been involved in almost 60% of the goals for Xavi Hernandez’s side (42).
However, let’s not be so quick to dismiss Karim Benzema, the second-highest scorer in Real Madrid’s history. The man who led Los Blancos to the double in 2021/22 is still there and will eventually return. Although he has only been involved in 21% of Real Madrid’s goals – four goals and one assist – it should be noted that a knee injury kept him out for three weeks at the start of the season and he needs to get into a competitive rhythm.
The Classico on Sunday will be number 42 for the French striker. In the previous 41 he has found the back of the net 11 times, making them one of his favourite opponents in recent times. For the Pole, by contrast, it will be his first experience of the LaLiga fixture. The other times he has faced Madrid he has not fared badly, scoring six goals in eight duels. Particularly memorable are the four he put past them in the first leg of the 2013 Champions League semi-finals at Signal Iduna Park.
Looking ahead to the Ballon d’Or
Without detracting from Benzema’s brilliant 2022/23 season, Lewandowski was keen to add spice to the Classico with the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony looming: “If they don’t cancel it, he’ll probably win it this year,” he said ironically, looking back to 2020. And in that year, the year of Covid-19, the great favourite was the then Bayern Munich striker, scorer of 55 goals and a determining factor in the Bavarian team’s successes. However, he did not talk about the fact that in 2021 he was snatched by Leo Messi (35) with some controversy in an event marked by the debatable success of Paris Saint-Germain.
The Pole did not deny that it is normal for Karim to be at the top of all the pools. The Real Madrid captain played a crucial role in Real Madrid’s 35th LaLiga title and 14th Champions League. 44 goals and 15 assists in the different competitions guarantee what is sure to be a well-deserved Ballon d’Or. It is also expected that the award will be presented by Cristiano Ronaldo, a former teammate and friend of the Frenchman, as the culmination of a very special event.
