Still Lewandowski.
Best striker in the world: Benzema or Lewandowski?
- Thread starter Fortitude
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Even peak Kane I don't think is on the same level but thats my own opinion.
Kane had two finals one with club and one with country, he failed to turn up in either.
I think Kane gets underrated in footballing circles because he is English. Guy has been underwhelming since Euros but we seem to forget how consistent and influential he has been for Spurs, since his breakthrough season when everyone thought it was a one season miracle.
Not saying he is in the same level Lewandowski or Benzema currently, but he is comfortably among the best strikers in the world when he is at his best.
What I mean is you'll rarely see people commenting that Benzema is starved of service because he'll always come deep and move to the wings to get on the ball. He doesn't wait wait for the ball and always goes looking for it, so in a way his game isn't fully dependent on his teammates.
Benzema has aged beautifully 
Another player who looks capable of playing into his late 30's making quite a case for player of the season.
Benzemowski, without a doubt.
Benzema can do what Lewa does, but Lewa can’t do what Benzema does. Benzema has that Zidanesque technique. Wonderful player.
That first header from Benzema is just
What a player
What a player
I am going to go with Benzema from these two. The Bundesliga is so weak, at the moment, that it puts a question mark over what Lewandowski is doing.
I would not be surprised if Benzema would replicate that for Bayern Munich.
On a side note, I also think Kane would do similarly. I put those three players on a similar level, myself. I think if their circumstances were the same, I don't think there would be all that much difference in output.
I would not be surprised if Benzema would replicate that for Bayern Munich.
On a side note, I also think Kane would do similarly. I put those three players on a similar level, myself. I think if their circumstances were the same, I don't think there would be all that much difference in output.
In this era of strikers I would agree he is among the top 10 of strikers, but the two strikers and Mbappe are clear of him, in my opinion of course.
Edit: if he had gotten his move to City, working under Pep he would be a lot closer to the top strikers.
At this particular moment its Benzema, he's not only the best striker but the best player. He's having an amazing season carrying a Real Madrid team thats isnt nearly as impressive as Bayern.
On current form Benzema, overall still Lewandowski.
I also think Kane is not too far behind them. Best individual performance by a striker in the PL this season was Kane against City.
Kane is the best overall player of all top strikers in the world, IMO.
I think the poll needs to be updated to include Martial.
I have a thing for the 2nd but the first one is ridiculousThat first header from Benzema is just
What a player
Can't understand how he managed to get that much power on that. It went past the gk like a pure strike.That first header from Benzema is just
What a player
Benz has been so brilliant these past 3 years. Kane, Lewa and him are just outstanding strikers today that could be great in any era.
All 3 are in or close to their 30s. Would be interesting to see which current young strikers will take the mantle, Haaland and maybe Vlahovic, though I honestly don't either well reach that peak.
All 3 are in or close to their 30s. Would be interesting to see which current young strikers will take the mantle, Haaland and maybe Vlahovic, though I honestly don't either well reach that peak.
You must remember, Haaland is only 21 years old. He scored 27 goals in 28 games last season in the league, at age 20. When Benzema was 21, he was playing in Lyon, scoring 17 goals in 36 games in Ligue 1.
If Haaland carries on with the trajectory he's on & has the longevity of Benzema, he will probably go down as one of the best ever goal scorers.
However, none of us can predict the future! Perhaps a player that hasn't even come onto the scene yet, will be the one to take the mantle from Lewa/Benz/Kane. The aforementioned (Kane) was a nobody until the age of 21/22 when he had his breakthrough season.
Core and neck strength apparently
They’re both likely taking performing enhancing drugs to do what they’ve been doing at their age.
Nonsense, with all due respect. The guy has over 500 career club goals. Unless he's scoring them in the Luxembourg league (and about 80 of them were in Poland, to be fair) there are no 'question marks' whatsoever. He also had no trouble scoring goals and winning trophies with Dortmund so I just don't buy this argument at all.
Lets act like he's not the 3rd all time top scorer in the CL behind Messi and Ronaldo for a player who started playing the CL about 10yrs ago several seasons behind Messi Ronaldo and Benzema
Well, the guy is making an argument it's easier to score in the Bundesliga which I tend to agree with, so the Dortmund example isn't really helping you out. The CL counter-point is a better argument, although I think people tend to overrate a bit the CL, especially in the group stages where it can really be an abysmal level of competition.
Lewandowski was also superb, scoring 3 goals over two legs against Chelsea 3 years ago, and he got a perfect 10 L’Equipe rating after scoring 4 goals against Real Madrid in a CL semi-final. Also even if you add a Bundesliga tax of +5 goals, Lewandowski’s numbers past 3 years are still way ahead of other players, no matter how much tax you add it’s impressive.
For people that don't know what it means, it's extremely rare. L'Equipe don't give those easily.
Oh don't get me wrong, I think he's an absolute beast. I think it's between him and Benzema as the two best strikers, and I think if we're talking pure striker role, I'm putting Lewa ahead of him, but I prefer Benzema overall as a player and would pick him ahead of Lewa in almost any team set up.
And yes, getting a 10 from L'equipe is a big deal, so much so I would cut out a clipping of the newspaper and put it right in my trophy case, it's a Ballon d'Or for those who don't have one.
Benzema. He is the complete striker much like Suarez in his pomp.
I have always defended Benzema when some on CAF were saying he is not even a top 10 striker in the last 10-15 years, he is an amazing all-around striker and I would take him over Lewa for Juve. But, one thing that might be in Lewa's favor is that Lewa is a more consistent performer at the top level year-in year-out.
The point about Dortmund is that they are not an extremely dominant European giant with a massive financial and historical advantage over the rest of the league. Like Bayern Munich. Or, you know, Real Madrid.....and how much easier is it to score goals in the Bundesliga than La Liga really? I think there is a higher GTG ratio overall in Germany, but I don't think that means we should 'question' a guy with 400 goals. He's breaking records that have stood for 40+ years FFS.
I don't think anybody is questioning Lewandowski, but I'm just interested in looking behind the numbers and finding some context. Just like you can do with Karim's output and the context of his role in Real Madrid during the CR7 era, or the fact he's at 80+ goals in the CL with only one penalty as a striker, it's just context behind the numbers and the team set up they had during their career. As far as the Bundesliga, it's a great offensive league, there's a lot of players who have had terrific seasons there, and I can't think of another league where multiple players are at, or close to, a goal/game, at least in recent seasons.
There's no doubt what Lewandowski is doing is extraordinary, he's one of the all-time great strikers, and regardless of context, he's never really had a poor season like Karim had at Madrid, but I do think the numbers flatter him a bit if we're comparing him with Benzema based on only goals, which I get can be a silly point to people when we're talking about strikers, but I can hardly see a single team set up where I would prefer to have Lewandowski over Benzema, despite the numbers being better for Lewa. I just consider Benzema more valuable because of everything else he can bring to a team while still being capable of scoring the big goals.
Both are amazing players.
But it is indisputably easier to score in the Bundesliga (which is the question mark) than La Liga and the Premier League, especially with how weak the Bundesliga has been recently.
There is also a lot of transfers which have shown the standard. High goal scorers in the Bundesliga have not really been doing very well outside of it. Werner has been terrible for Chelsea; Weghorst plays for Burnley; Jovic was useless at Real Madrid; Sancho has done nothing for Manutd. I could go on.
The point is that a goal in the Bundesliga is not worth the same as a goal in those other two leagues. That is the question mark as the exchange rate of goals does not seem to be great.
I doubt there are any high level footballers not taking PEDs.
Not buying it. You'd have to do a lot more thorough analysis than just a few isolated examples to prove that it's much more difficult to score in the Bundesliga than in La Liga.
And of course you would bring the Premier League into a discussion where it does not belong because fans of the Premier league are standard bearers of the 'all other leagues are crap' mantra. We've got to stop disrespecting other leagues. I'm sure somewhere on this site there is someone claiming that Kane is better than Benzema because Kane plays in the Premier League. I'm sure it's there somewhere.
If you can show me another striker in the last 10 years who has 300 Bundesliga goals and 400 in Germany then I'll accept your thesis. Otherwise, can we just admit that he's great, give him his flowers and move on without having to qualify his record in some way? Especially as he scores bucketloads of goals in the CL and for a poor international team as well? I mean, come on people!
My personal opinion? England, Italy, Germany and Spain are the top 4 leagues by common consensus. If a guy scores 400 goals playing in any of those countries, he's a pretty good player. End of story, no ifs, buts, ands or maybes.
Lewa is playing with Bayern, the most dominant team in Bundesliga by far winning the league 9-10 times in a row now. The last time a German team not named Bayern won something in Europe was 25 years ago. Crazy to see Bundesliga as equivalent to La Liga, Premier league or even Serie A.
Nobody cares about Bundesliga but many closely follow La Liga, Premier League and even Serie A, and the reason is there is high level of competition at the top in those leagues. Bundesliga is more or less at the same level as Ligue 1. In fact, Ligue 1 seems more competitive with Monaco and Lille winning titles against PSG in the last 5 years.
It is not disrespectful to tell the truth - there is evidence that the Bundesliga is weak. Dortmund (the current second-best team in Germany) got smashed in two games by the second-best team in Scotland. Germany only has 1 team in the Champion's League, but La Liga and the Premier League both have 3. The league's highest goal scorers failing in other leagues has become a bit of a trend.
It is not about saying Lewandowski is not a great player, but it is applying perspective when comparing outputs of players.
You can also look at 2012/13 (the strongest point of the Bundesliga - and the strongest in Europe that season) - there were only 2 players who scored 20 goals or more in the Bundesliga (Keissling: 25 goals; Lewandowski: 24 goals). Last season, there were 5 players who got 20 goals or more (Lewandowski: 41; Silva: 28; Haaland: 27; Weghorst: 20; Kramaric: 20). Last season, in particular, raises a question mark as I think that is an undoubted sign of the league being ridiculously weak.
Lewandowski's goal scoring seemed far more normal (for a great player) when the Bundesliga was stronger. Now, he is scoring ridiculous amounts, and I think quite a lot of it is due to how weak the league has become. Just look at the records of the top 3 in 20/21: (41 goals in 29 games; 28 goals in 32 games; 27 goals in 28 games). That is mental to have 3 players with records like that in one season.
Well the best players/teams are likely taking stronger substances with more noticeable effects.
Two 33/34 year olds shouldn’t be performing the way they have. 10+ years ago forwards in their 30’s were rarely Balon d’Or contenders. Last year 3 of the Top 5 Balon d’Or players were forwards in their 30’s.
Science and hygiene in big clubs have also improved a lot in that time. PEDs won't make you avoid injuries, but having a healthier lifestyle will, and that's crucial in reaching mid-30s and still performing.
But even if you say Bundesliga is easier to score, they played 4 less games a year than other leagues, so if you want to add that to the equation. 41 goals in 29 games is ridiculous at any level, never mind a top 5 league and even if you want to add a handicap to Bundesliga, like say 'it's 5 goals easier to score a season than Premier League'... then that's the equivalent of 36 goals in 29 games. When you add that into goal a game record in the Champions League and also a goal a game at international level (without Bayern Munich and in a weak team), not sure what else Lewandowski has to prove. How to explain Poland games and Champions League games then?