Barcelona forward Robert Lewandowski, whose career was ignited under Liverpool legend Jurgen Klopp when the pair worked together at Borussia Dortmund, has named two Reds players as some of the best he has played with while picking his dream 5-a-side team.
As well as playing for Dortmund, Lewandowski has also represented Bayern Munich and Barcelona during his career, in which he has found the back of the net more than 600 times for club and country. And that means he has played alongside some exceptional world-class talent.
Lewandowski picked Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben up front in his 5-a-side team, and Jerome Boateng and David Alaba at the back. But he also mentioned several other big players as being among the best he has worked with.
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Former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso was his final selection, with the Polish striker not picking either himself or a goalkeeper! "Bastian Schweinsteiger was so good… but I have Alonso!" the 36-year-old told Rio Ferdinand Presents. "Lahm, Xabi Alonso, Schweinsteiger. Ah, Thiago Alcantara! Argh!"
It says a lot about what a career he has had at club level that Lewandowski was able to reel off so many talented players. Schweinsteiger didn't work out at Manchester United but he was exceptional at his best in Germany.
Thiago was similar, unable to show off his full brilliance on Merseyside because of a poor injury history. In Germany and Spain, he plyed slightly more regularly — but was clearly one of the most technically gifted midfielders of his generation.
Alonso won the Champions League with Liverpool in his first season with the club but the best part of his career came with Real Madrid and then Bayern Munich. Now excelling as the head coach of Bayer Leverkusen, it speaks volumes about how good the Spaniard was that Lewandowski went with Alonso at the base of his dream midfield.
