Lewandowski vs Benzema: How Barcelona star has outscored Madrid legend
Karan Tejwani
- Updated: 21 Jul 2022 16:04 BST
- 3 min read
Robert Lewandowski completed a move to Barcelona from Bayern Munich this week, after weeks of negotiations between the two clubs.
The Polish forward made it clear he wanted to leave the German champions at the end of last season, and his dream was to play in La Liga.
He had to be patient to get his move, as Barcelona weaved through their financial difficulties to get the deal done, and he is now set to make his debut against Real Madrid in a friendly.
Later in the season, Lewandowski will be coming up against Karim Benzema – who is set to miss the friendly – in a battle between two of football’s best modern forwards.
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How do Lewandowski and Benzema's records compare?
Both Lewandowski and Benzema have been excellent in recent years, and both have had viable claims to win the Ballon d’Or in seasons gone by.
The Polish forward had a brilliant 2020, where he won five trophies with Bayern and was scoring goals for fun, but he couldn’t claim football’s biggest individual prize as France Football cancelled the award for that year.
Benzema, meanwhile, is the top favourite to win the award this year, following a wonderful campaign with Real Madrid where he won La Liga and the Champions League and was top scorer in both.
Overall, though, the two have had brilliant career: Lewandowski has scored 540 goals in 745 career matches, while Benzema has netted 404 in 773.
Most of Lewandowski’s goals have come for Bayern Munich – 344 – while Benzema has had his best numbers for the Spanish champions: 323.
And while Lewandowski’s goals have been a consistent – only once in his eight-season stay at Bayern Munich did he score less than 40 goals in a campaign, which was in 2014-15, his first season in Bavaria.
Only two players have scored 100 Champions League goals:
◉ 140 - Cristiano Ronaldo
◉ 125 - Lionel Messi
◎ 86 - Robert Lewandowski
◎ 86 - Karim Benzema
The race to the 100 club just became a Clásico... pic.twitter.com/rRCQKktklE— Squawka (@Squawka) July 19, 2022
Benzema, meanwhile, has seen an upturn in numbers since 2018, which was the same year Cristiano Ronaldo departed and more responsibility fell on his shoulders: he’s scored 131 goals in four years.
Both players have had identical numbers for assists, although Benzema has a better record of 186 goals set up, while Lewandowski has provided 135.
In terms of trophies, Benzema has won 30 trophies for club and country, including eight league titles and five Champions League honours, along with the Nations League in 2021.
Lewandowski, meanwhile, has won 25, including 11 league titles with Lech Poznan, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich and one Champions League, but no trophies with Poland.
With Lewandowski having completed a move to Barcelona, it will be exciting to see how he fares in Spain and if he can continue at the same rate.
Additionally, the Clasico will now have an extra element to it as the world’s two best forwards go head-to-head in the same fixture in the upcoming campaign.
