Top scorer in Europe 

©TM/IMAGO

The third El Classico of the season will take place in Seville tonight as Barcelona and Real Madrid renew their famous rivalry in the Copa del Rey final. It will be the 260th encounter between Spain’s biggest two clubs and the result is massively important to both. Barcelona are enjoying an incredible season under Hansi Flick and the Copa del Rey represents the second trophy on their quest for a famous quadruple.

Barcelona have already inflicted two heavy defeats on their fierce rivals this season; a 5-2 triumph in the Supercopa in January and a famous 4-0 victory in the Bernabeu in October. The final proceeds Barca’s Champions League semi-final first-leg against Inter Milan tonight and the Catalan club are also destined to win La Liga this season. But Flick will be without talisman Robert Lewandowski against Madrid and Inter, so how will Barca cope without their leading goalscorer?

How will Barcelona replace Robert Lewandowski?

Lewandowski sustained a muscle injury in Barcelona’s 4-3 win over Celta Vigo in LaLiga last weekend. Barca are remaining coy over the severity of the injury but he’s expected to be sidelined for several weeks in a major blow. A Barcelona statement read: “The tests carried out on Sunday have confirmed that Robert Lewandowski has suffered an injury to the semitendinosus muscle in his left thigh.” While Raphinha and Lamine Yamal often dominate the headlines, Lewandowski has enjoyed a phenomenal campaign with the 38-year-old as prolific as ever.

The Polish international has scored 40 goals in all competitions for Barcelona, which equates to 32% of Barclona’s goal tally of 152. As the graphic above illustrates, Lewandowski is the top goalscorer across Europe’s top five leagues, ahead of Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah and Kylian Mbappé. Moreover, Lewandowski is also comfortably Barca’s main goal threat, despite the brilliance of Raphinha and offers them a focal point to their attack.

Flick faces a major dilemma on how to construct his team to absolve the absence of Lewandowski but he’s likely to deploy Ferran Torres up front. The former Manchester City star actually boasts a very impressive goal return this season of 17 goals in 1,537 minutes – which equates exactly to one goal per 90 minutes. It’s a major task for Torres to replace one of the best strikers across the last 20 years but there’s confidence that he can step up as Ivan Turmo, Transfermarkt’s LaLiga expert, explains.

He said: “With 40 goals this season, Lewandowski is experiencing a second youth and his best spell at Barça. Ferran Torres is expected to be his replacement at the top of the attack, with Dani Olmo or the more consistent Fermín López behind him. However, Torres offers other qualities than Lewandowski, such as greater mobility. He can also be more helpful in pressing opponents and creating passing options for Pedri and Lamine Yamal, among others.”