Lhe numbers speak for themselves. With 47 goals scored in all competitions, with Real Madrid and the France team, Karim Benzema is having the best season of his career. But, beyond the statistics, it is also the visual impression that he has given off in recent weeks with the costume of the savior in the Champions League for the people of Madrid.
Before the return match against Manchester City this Wednesday (9 p.m.) in the semi-final of the Champions League, Benzema continued to make an impression. A hat-trick against PSG, a hat-trick and a decisive goal in extra time against Chelsea, a double that allows his team to stay alive against the Citizens…, the stunning performances follow one another for the striker trained in Lyon. He is now announced as the big favorite for the Ballon d’Or, ahead of Sadio Mané, Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah.
Benzema is like Nadal: he never gives up!
Seeing a center forward of his stature reach his peak at 34 is unusual. If, overall, the players age better, like Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Karim Benzema manages to go even further. Asked by PointPablo Gallego, journalist and founder of Journal du Realaffirms that the secret of this new form resides above all in its state of mind.
READ ALSOSpain: the rebirth of Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid
“Five years ago, Benzema had a click. He understood that he had to work better physically and preserve his body, because, at 32, he thought he would be finished. A personal athletic trainer now accompanies him. He has also matured, in his head he has grown well, he has settled down, he has had children. And Real has always supervised and supported him well, even when he had legal cases in France. It gave him a huge boost,” he says.
10 – Karim Benzema is the 1st ���� player in history to score 10+ goals in a single Champions League season and the 1st to do so in C1 since Just Fontaine in 1958/59 (10). King. pic.twitter.com/tkAsVl1OTh
– OptaJean (@OptaJean) April 6, 2022
—
For five and a half years, from November 2015 to May 2021, Karim Benzema was no longer called up by Didier Deschamps with the Blues. Eventually, this banishment turned out to be a blessing in disguise on the physical plane. If he had chained everything, would the top scorer in La Liga this season have been so sharp today?
“It is difficult for the competitor that he is to accept this situation with the Blues, indicates Pablo Gallego. It came at the right time because he had to rehabilitate physically, and the recovery was effective. However, staying alone during international breaks, training with young people while all his teammates left, it was hard. It forged him mentally. Benzema has used it and this mentality fits well with his club. Real and Benzema are like Rafael Nadal in tennis, they’re a team that never gives up, it’s their DNA. And the comparison makes sense when you see a Benzema haranguing his partners every time the Merengues are in trouble on the continental scene.
Finally dubbed by the Bernabeu
In the evolution of the one who joined the White House in 2009, the relationship to the public and to the media has necessarily changed. Even his trainers have not always been kind to him… The time when José Mourinho referred to him as a “cat” when “going hunting” seems a long way off.
For Pablo Gallego, the turning point came in the summer of 2018: “It was clearly the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo that changed the player, with a Benzema who thinks a lot more about himself, and the fans like that. It was a snowball effect. The supporters saw that he was not going to the France team despite all his efforts. It is a demanding public, but who knows how to recognize the player at his fair value. “Recently became the top French scorer in history, ahead of Thierry Henry, the Lyonnais has finally been able to be adopted by the Bernabeu.
READ ALSO The Monday tackle – Villarreal or the hypocrisy of the Superleague
For a long time, this Madrid public struggled with the protean profile of Benzema, capable of being at the origin of actions rather than at the conclusion, of becoming a creator and a passer rather than a scorer. “In Madrid, there is a culture of the number 9 finisher, underlines Pablo Gallego. In the history of this club, it is a number that has always guaranteed goals. With Benzema, it was the first time that we saw a striker who did everything. It took time to figure it out. »
Now an essential part of Real Madrid alongside Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Thibaut Courtois, Benzema intends to continue writing his legend in Spain. Overthrowing Manchester City this Wednesday would certainly become one of its finest pages.
–
