BarcelonaRobert Lewandowski spoke to Madrid a lot of times. Ferran Torres, more than six times. When he was a child, Pedri came to pass through the sports city of the white club to do a test there some days when it was so cold, that it snowed and everything. And Gavi also entered the white club’s radar. When a player has talent, the same thing usually happens: the phone of his agents keeps ringing and he receives calls from many big clubs. The list of players who have spoken to both Barça and Madrid is very long. Some who seemed destined to be white, like Lewandowski, end up at Barça. Others who wanted to be footballers ended up in Madrid, like Asensio, Isco and Modric.
“One of Lewandowski’s dreams was to play in a classic. When I was with him, he said that he enjoyed playing in Madrid, but he says that people change. And he is right. He is comfortable at Barça”, explains Cezary Kucharski, who was the first representative of the current Barça footballer. “Who doesn’t want to play this game? It’s the most important game. In Poland everyone is watching it. People are divided between those who follow Barça and those who follow Madrid. And I think we can say that until Lewandowski has chosen the Barça, there were more Poles who were Madrid fans,” he adds. Lewandowski has already played eight times against Real Madrid, a club he has scored six goals against. The first was in October 2012 in a Borussia Dortmund-Madrid group stage of the Champions League, when he scored one of the two goals in the German triumph. He did not score in the second leg, in a 2-2 draw. But his day of glory was in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals in 2013, when he scored all four goals for Borussia (4-1). Later he would have less luck with Bayern, with whom he faced four times against the whites and won only one game. In total, of the previous eight, he won three, drew two and lost three. He played a classic with Barça during the summer tour, in Las Vegas, when Raphinha scored an incredible goal. Now it is his turn to return to the Santiago Bernabéu, where he has scored a goal with Bayern. “When Robert scored four goals in Madrid, the white club was already following him. We were already in contact with them, they were following how he was doing. With Madrid and with other clubs, but there came a time when it was clear that it would be or Bayern or Madrid. Bayern knew how to present a good offer and when Madrid activated we already had it closed,” admits Kucharski, who was invited to the Bernabéu more than once by the white board. Lewandowski’s arrival at Bayern did not stop the rumours. Madrid were still interested in signing him despite the fact that they still had Cristiano Ronaldo at the time, which made the Pole hesitate. “Lewandowski was very happy in Germany, but he was clear that he wanted to play a match like Barça-Madrid. At that time, with Messi, Suárez and Neymar at Barça, it seemed more possible to go to Madrid, with whom there was a lot of talk. It’s normal for him to think about it, just as it’s normal for him to later come to the conclusion of leaving for Barça if this club has made an effort for him,” he admits. Despite the fact that Madrid continued to wait on the future of the Pole until a few weeks before his signing by Barça, in recent months Lewandowski saw clearly that he would be a Blaugrana player. A fact that is celebrated in the club’s offices, because it confirmed that Barça once again had the ability to attract top-level players. Sources at the club admit that they never got nervous when the Pole continued to be talked about from Madrid, because they always saw him very determined to be a Blaugrana player, especially after a conversation with Xavi in Ibiza. Lewandowski will finally be able to make his debut in the match he has wanted so much at a time when Barça need him.
Koundé, Torre and Kessié were also the object of Madrid’s desire
Barça-Madrid, the great duel, the match that has been labeled a classic in recent years, taking on an Argentinian footballing expression. A name that has made a fortune. A game that continues to gather millions of people in front of the television and a great opportunity to get up, after the European kick against Inter. In the Blaugrana dressing room, the wound hurts and the visit to the Santiago Bernabéu has become the match that should serve to show that this project is on the right track, despite the mistakes in Europe. And he will do it with a few players making their debut in a classic. And, things in life, a few could have been Real Madrid players, in the past. Of the eight Barça signings this year, four spoke at some point with Madrid, as is the case with Lewandowski, Koundé, Kessié and Pablo Torre. And a fifth, Marcos Alonso, trained at the white club. “Madrid offered me more money, but my dream was to play for Barça,” explained Torre. In the case of Kessié, since his contract with Milan was coming to an end, both clubs followed him. The midfielder ended up deciding on Barça for the same reasons as Lewandowski, who has stated: “When I saw the effort the club was willing to make to sign me, I saw clearly that I would come.” Kessié arrived free of contract, but was seduced by the project that Xavi was building. In the case of Jules Koundé, who could return to the pitch after a few weeks injured precisely in Madrid, he got to see how there were talks between Sevilla and Madrid when the Madrid club was looking for a central player. In the end, it was Rudiger who landed in Madrid and Koundé was able to sign for Barça, as he wanted.
In recent years it has been normal to see similar cases. The case of Pedri is well known, and in 2018 he was in the sports city of Madrid on trial. “I was looking at my shield and I knew something wasn’t right”, he would explain years later, referring to the fact that he was born into a Blaugrana family in Tenerife, with his grandfather and father participating in the foundation of a Barça fan. Ferran Torres, when he was at Valencia, got to speak “six times with Madrid, there was an interest, but I didn’t see it clearly”. Also Gavi, when he was a child, was followed by Madrid, who tried to get in the middle recently when the young Andalusian had not yet renewed his contract. In the end, it came to a Barça that needs to make the classic the game of the reaction. It won’t be another game, neither for the coaches nor for Lewandowski.
