The Japan Times - Lewandowski, Mbappe duel fuelling tight La Liga title race

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski is the division's top goalscorer with 25 and Madrid's Kylian Mbappe trails him on 22, adding another facet to the engrossing battle.

The Catalans host soaring Real Betis, sixth, on Saturday, shortly after champions Real Madrid welcome relegation-battling Valencia to the Santiago Bernabeu.

Last weekend after Mbappe notched twice against Leganes as Madrid scraped a 3-2 win, Lewandowski responded with a brace of his own in Barcelona's 4-1 rout of Girona.

In the final stages his team spurned opportunities to score more goals and Lewandowski highlighted that.

"In the last minutes there was more space and more chance of scoring," noted the 36-year-old Poland international.

"If we had a better final ball we could have scored one or two more goals."

Lewandowski has netted nine goals in his last nine league games and has 38 strikes from 43 matches across all competitions.

Despite his age, he believes he still has the quality to make the difference at an elite club for years to come.

"I know a lot of people are talking abut my age, but I'm working since (I was) 21, 22, until now and I want to play more years at the top level.

"I feel very good physically, I think looking at the stats there's no difference now to a few years ago."

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick insisted the striker was focused on team success as well as battling for Spain's "Pichichi" award.

"He's fit, he's 100 percent, I know he wants to win the Pichichi," said Flick.

"But like I've always said the most important thing is the team... and this is what I can feel more, that he thinks about the team and focuses on the team and helps the team."

Not far behind him is Mbappe, who boasts 33 goals in 46 games this seasonequalling the tally Cristiano Ronaldo produced in his first season for Real Madrid.

Mbappe idolised the Portuguese striker, who joined Los Blancos in 2009 from Manchester United and said it was "very special" to match him.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said this week Mbappe could go on to become a "legend" like Ronaldo was at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Al-Nassr striker netted 450 goals to become Real Madrid's all-time top goalscorer.

Mbappe said he is not setting limits for himself this season in terms of goals, while Vinicius Junior said in January Madrid players would do "everything we can to make (Mbappe) the top scorer in all competitions".

Valencia's visit offers a decent chance to bolster his numbers as Los Che trio Jose Gaya, Luis Rioja and Dimitri Foulquier were all booked last weekend and will miss the game.

No player has scored more league goals in 2025 than Mbappe with 12, ahead of Lewandowski's seven.

Player to watch: Ayoze Perez

Villarreal and Spain striker Perez has been in superb form this season when he has been able to play in between a few spells out injured. The former Newcastle and Leicester forward has netted 12 goals in 22 league games for his club and the Yellow Submarine, fifth, will need him at his best as they host fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao on Sunday. Perez netted and set up another goal as Villarreal beat Getafe last weekend.

Key stats

3 - games Valencia have lost under Carlos Corberan in La Liga from 12 played, a drastic improvement on nine defeats in their first 17.

7 - Osasuna's Ante Budimir has converted all of the penalties he has taken this season in the top flight.

521 - appearances for Antoine Griezmann in La Liga, more than any other player from abroad after overtaking Lionel Messi last weekend.

Fixtures

Friday

Rayo Vallecano v Espanyol (1900)

Saturday

Girona v Alaves (1200), Real Madrid v Valencia (1415), Mallorca v Celta Vigo (1730), Barcelona v Real Betis (1900)

Sunday

Las Palmas v Real Sociedad (1200), Sevilla v Atletico Madrid (1415), Valladolid v Getafe (1630), Villarreal v Athletic Bilbao (1900)

Monday

Leganes v Osasuna (1900)

M.Ito--JT