The two Madrid clubs in the spanish La Liga have players, who would be considered waning in modern football, but their wizardary with the ball is still the same as they fight out to finish at the top of the league at the end of 2020.

Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema and Atletico Madrid’s Luis Suarez, both 33, are defying every notion about age in modern football.

Luis Suarez has scored seven goals from just 11 games putting him level second in the top scorer list behind Gerard Moreno, who has scored eight goals although half of them have been through penalties.

None of Suarez’s goals have come from the penalty spot.

Suarez showed some signs of struggle in his first two games back after battling coronavirus, but his knack for scoring goals has stayed and has become more lethal with age and he wants that double of top scorer and league champions. 

But Benzema has no intention of giving him either without a fight. He has also found the net seven times so far this season, also without penalties.

Benzema turned 33 this month, which makes him a year younger than Suarez, who will be 34 in January. He has also been able to concentrate on club football as he has not been picked in the French national team since October 2015.

France won a World Cup without Benzema but one can only imagine the destruction caused by the front three if he was also included.

Benzema and Suarez would be in contention for another league title this year, although for Suarez the stripes have changed. The Uruguayan has won a lot of trophies at Barcelona but was let go at the start of the season when Ronald Koeman took charge of the Catalan giants. 

For the Frenchman it would be his fourth and his second without Cristiano Ronaldo. When Real Madrid sold the Portuguese in 2018 to Juventus they were desperate for other big names at the club at the time, and Eden Hazard who signed a year later, to rise to the occasion. No one did apart from Benzema.