Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema claims that El Clasico will continue to be the world's best game in club football, despite Lionel Messi's departure from Barcelona.

Benzema and Real Madrid look to extend their La Liga lead as they travel to the Camp Nou next weekend, October 24, to face a 9th place Barcelona side in shambles.

With Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo no longer participating in the historic rivalry, questions are being asked whether it is still worth watching the match. Benzema believes that it will always be the biggest club football game in the world — it was, and never will be, just about the players on the pitch — but more so about the clubs themselves.

Via Alex Kirkland of ESPN:

“For me, it's still the same. It remains the best match that exists in football,” Benzema told ESPN's Julien Laurens in an exclusive interview. “It doesn't matter about the players who are there, who have left or who will join. Real-Barca is historic. The names change but before there was [Zinedine] Zidane, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, [Samuel] Eto'o. Real-Barca will always be Real-Barca.”

Karim Benzema has arguably looked like the most prolific striker in recent weeks, being the league's top goalscorer with an outstanding 9 goals and 7 assists in only 8 matches played.

Aside from club play, he also scored an insane curler from outside of the box to help France secure their first UEFA Nations League against a rejuvenated Spanish side.

Barca has a tough task against Real Madrid next week, but for now, the club sets its sights on Shakhtar Donetsk FC in this week's iteration of the Champions League group stage.