Robert Lewandowski has said Barcelona aren’t “scared” by the imminent arrival of Kylian Mbappé at Real Madrid this summer.
Barça are 12 points behind the LaLiga champions going into this weekend’s final round of fixtures, and Madrid are set to further strengthen by signing Mbappé, with sources telling ESPN he’s expected to join next month after the Champions League final.
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Madrid beat Barça in both Clasico meetings between the two teams this season, but Lewandowski said in an interview with the newspaper Marca that he believes Barça can still compete even with the addition of France star Mbappé.
“Scared? No,” Lewandowski said. “Of course Mbappé is an amazing player and if he joins Real Madrid, the team, the players will be very strong. But our mindset will be like, it doesn’t matter how good players they are. If we as a team are working together, with the mindset that we can beat them, we can compete with them.”
Lewandowski, 35, joined Barça in July 2022 and won LaLiga in his first season, scoring 23 goals. He found it more difficult this campaign as the team struggled, but still has 18 league goals, the fourth highest tally in the division.
“We have to be ready from the first game, from the first minute,” he said. “Because Real Madrid for sure will have some time when they don’t play well, losing points, and we have to be ready for this, to not only catch them but maybe to get ahead of them. Like two years ago, the season before, there were always some games we couldn’t win, but we didn’t lose.”
As well as the expected arrival of Mbappé, Madrid will also welcome teenage star Endrick this summer, with the Brazil forward joining from Palmeiras in a deal agreed back in December 2022.
They’ll compete for a place in a packed attack alongside Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo Goes and Jude Bellingham, but in an interview with Diario AS on Thursday, Endrick, 17, said he wasn’t concerned by the competition.
“It’s a winning group,” he said. “No player is a threat to any other. The best club in the world always has to look for the best in every position, always. Being alongside great players will only help me improve, get to a higher level and win more trophies.”
Madrid play Real Betis in their last LaLiga game of 2023-24 on Saturday before preparing to face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final at Wembley on June 1.