Lewandowski has not dropped below 40 goals per season since 2016 with a total of 323 goals in that period. Benzema accumulates 199 in the same seven campaigns
Behind the two, Griezmann emerges as an alternative to a duel that promises to revive the best piques of the extinct battle between Messi and CR7
The signing of Robert Lewandowski by FC Barcelona has reopened a dual war that, since the departure of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, had not been experienced in LaLiga. Argentine and Portuguese were dueling apart from the classic between Catalans and Real Madrid. Another competition within the competition fueled by the rivalry of each other. Hyperbole of the pique that the Polish striker and Karim Benzema will now represent as goalscoring references for each other. For now, in the forecasts, the advantage is for the new Barça player.
At Betfair the bet is led (for the moment) by Lewandowski. That the German scores more goals in the League than any other player is quoted with an implied probability of 20%, like Benzema’s ‘Pichichi’ (18% implied probability). The Frenchman was already the top scorer in the championship last year with 27 goals. His feat put an end to six consecutive courses of Barça dominance. Luis Suárez (2016) and Messi (from 2017 to 2021) had led the table.
Lewandowski, the logic of the goal
Now Lewandowski emerges as a hope at FC Barcelona after a culé resignation course: Depay was the top scorer with just 12 goals. It is logical that Lewandowski has a slight advantage over the rest of his competitors looking at his data and even comparing them with those of Benzema himself. Because if the azulgrana is good at something, it’s drilling goals with the routine normality of someone who breathes without realizing it.
Since the 2015-2016 season (that course he scored 42 goals in 51 official matches), Lewandowski has not dropped below 40 goals per campaign. Namely: 42, 43, 41, 44, 55, 48 and 50 goals are his records in that period. A total of 323 goals in seven campaigns. At an average of 46 per football year.
Benzema, however, has more modest records. In the same period, only in one course, precisely last season, the Frenchman exceeded 40 goals (he scored 44). Transferring the same comparison, Karim’s numbers are 28, 19, 12, 39, 27, 30 and 44 goals. A total of 199 goals in the same seven campaigns, at a rate of 28 per football year. Not bad, although they are 124 fewer in total than the Barça striker and 18 fewer on average per season. Given both perspectives, it is not surprising that Lewandowski leads the forecasts to be ‘Pichichi’, although Benzema’s good work last season cut (and much) the initial distances in these bets.
The outsiders of the goal
Of course, in this type of fight you always have to take into account the possibility that goal outsiders emerge capable of battling with the kings of aim. The aforementioned Luis Suárez is a paradigmatic example of how a third party can emerge in a fight between two. The 40 goals of the League in 2015-2016 were not only transcendental for Barça to win the title, but they snatched the ‘Pichichi’ from Messi and CR7 and, in addition, they made him be, precisely with Messi and CR7, the only player who has exceeded 40 goals in the League in the same season.
For this course, Betfair forecasts place Griezmann (implied probability of 17%) as the third alternative to ‘Pichichi’. It is striking that the Frenchman sneaks into this list precisely now that the potential arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo to Atlético de Madrid places him as one of the Metropolitan’s exit options. Something complicated because Cholo has always believed in the Little Prince and hopes that this will be the season of mattress redemption for him, returning to the level he had just before signing for Barça.