Winning a Ballon d’Or is an absolutely unique step in the life of a football player. So much so that some, without demerit, will never have come close to this dream of their entire career. If all goes as planned, Karim Benzema (34) is expected to pick up the iconic trophy this Monday evening around 10pm.
But who will give it to him? Last year it was Luis Suarez, one of his best friends, who gave Messi his seventh Ballon d’Or. For Benzema’s first, several pieces could give a particular flavor to this symbolic moment.
Zinédine Zidane, for the beautiful story
Ultimately, it would be the most logical choice that France Football could make. Not only because Zinédine Zidane is the last French player to have lifted the Ballon d’Or (in 1998), but also and above all because Karim Benzema and Zizou maintain an almost fusional relationship. “He is my coach, but he is like my older brother, to whom he confided the” Nueve “. The group in 2021. He always supported me, whether I was good or not, and made me progress consistently, every year. ”
A mutual feeling, he who had also confided to consider Benzema as “the little brother [qu’il n’a] pass me, dear [il est] the last of the family ”, still in the columns of L’Équipe. At the helm of Real Madrid for more than five years (2016-18 then 2019-21), Karim Benzema is the player Zidane has used the most in his career (217 times). It would all come together to make it a magnificent transfer between the past and present of French football.
Cristiano Ronaldo, for the good times
We wrote it a few days ago: even if he is sure not to win, even if he should be ranked out of the top 5 after his last season with the colors of Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo should be present this Monday evening at the Parisian theater of Châtelet for participate in the ceremony.
As a five-time winner of the trophy (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017), the Portuguese is a monument in the history of this award and in the overall history of football. And obviously he has a special relationship with Karim Benzema, who is THE player with whom he has played the most in his career (342 games played together), who arrived in the same summer of 2009 at Real Madrid.
Didier Drogba, master of ceremonies
It would be the easiest way out. Since 2019 the Ivorian is “ambassador” of the Ballon d’Or France Football, and will be one of the two master of ceremonies of the evening, together with the journalist Sandy Héribert. By all accounts, Didier Drogba’s hands would be good candidates to deliver the trophy, he who went so far as to fail at the foot of the podium in 2007 and who remains one of the best strikers in recent football history.
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