Robert Lewandowski or Karim Benzema? Kingsley Coman finds it hard to choose

Like fellow Frenchman Benjamin Pavard, Kingsley Coman has had plenty of experience as a teammate with both of the top two strikers in the world today — Robert Lewandowski, formerly of Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, recently returned to the French national team. In a recent interview with Rothen s’enflamme, as captured by @iMiaSanMia, Coman was once again asked how he would choose between the two.

And, like Pavard, Coman decided to become more neutral than he was in his first pass. (In early August for ESPN FC, he’d said: “Lewandowski left us, so I’m sorry, Benzema.”)

Benzema had previously been exiled in 2015, when he was under investigation for blackmailing a teammate over an alleged sex tape — for which, per BBC, he was found guilty last November — but was recalled just in time for the 2021 Mens’ European Championship. So Coman’s overlap with Benzema has been much briefer in comparison to the seven years in which he shared a locker room with Robert Lewandowski.

Still, Benzema is the present teammate while Lewandowski is now the former, and Coman answered the question diplomatically.

“It’s difficult to choose because they are two very different profiles,” the Bayern winger said. “As a pure box striker, Lewandowski is one of the best in the world - if not the best. Karim has qualities in the game that Lewandowski does not have.”

Fans of FC Barcelona today might argue — as Bayern fans also long know — that Lewandowski is himself a complete package as a forward, but it’s true that the two players do have their own approaches. As do their teams.

“It all depends on the system you are playing and what type of striker you want,” Coman pointed out. “What is certain is that the two are part of the top in the world.”