The eternal debate between the stars of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid continues to wage on. At one point in time, the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would spearhead such conversations, but times have changed. Now, for both Barcelona and Real Madrid, new stars and faces have emerged.
While Los Blancos continue their own tradition of signing Galacticos, Barcelona have returned to their roots of counting on their youngsters while mixing in some top signings. Interestingly, both Ronaldo and Messi were products of these exact same philosophies in the past as well.
Now, while it is important to always separate the proven from the unproven, there are always cases where picking a side or player from two options can raise a lot of eyebrows. Whether to value legacy or current form, a lot of factors begin to weigh in.
Such was the dilemma that was put in front of Dutch legend Patrick Kluivert, as revealed in the video shared by GOAL Arabia via X, in which he was asked to choose his ideal Clasico eleven, and one of the more prominent picks of his included having to choose between Barcelona ace Robert Lewandowski and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe, to which he answered:
“Lewandowski.”
A straightforward answer that did not take him too much time to think about, Kluivert’s reply highlighted simply how outstanding Lewandowski has been this season. Beyond just having a career that any top striker would envy, the Polish ace remains undisputed as one of the world’s best centre-forwards even today.
So far this season, Lewandowski has managed to score 12 goals in La Liga across 10 games. In second place remains Kylian Mbappe himself, who has managed to score 6 goals for Real Madrid in 9 games, three of which were penalties.
In the same session, Kluivert also picked between other Barcelona and Real Madrid players. This included the likes of Pedri and Luka Modric, two of the finest midfielders playing in the top flight of Spanish football and arguably across the entirety of the footballing world as well.