Real Madrid – Chelsea: How King Karim Benzema settled on the throne

“President, I saw the future of Olympique Lyonnais. He is a very gifted striker who plays in our youth sections. His name is Karim Benzema.” No one has forgotten the announcement made to Jean-Michel Aulas at the end of the 90s by Bernard Lacombe, éminence grise of the boss of OL. If Karim is an apostle of Ronaldo (the Brazilian), he is first of all the spiritual son of Lacombe, one of the best scorers in the history of French football, dubbed in his time by Platini with the Blues who praised his double register of scorer-finisher and complementary striker serving the collective. Either the two essential qualities of Karim who, in addition, has awarded himself a third dimension of striker-organizer of the game.

In Lyon, Karim was showered with advice from Bernard: “first post, first served”“you have to like the sound of the ball whipping the net”. The great former OL player passed on his obsession with goals to Karim: “I remember every one of my 316 goals”, said again recently the former right arm of Aulas. In addition to the almost paternal support (until today!) punctuated by Bernard’s trips to Madrid to encourage him at difficult times when Mourinho put him down, Karim indirectly developed the same goalscoring self-stimulation processes inherited from his mentor: “these are memories that stay with me and it allows me to repeat this kind of performance”, he confided in a superb interview with The Team of April 5, evoking his hat-trick against PSG in the Champions League. And Karim did it again by effect feedback at Stamford Bridge…

In addition to this “Bernardian” heritage, Karim was overtaken by the “culture stats”, he who did not say he was very fond of it. This obsession with modern world football was inaugurated a decade ago by the infernal trio Messi-Cristiano-Zlatan and was continued by Salah, Lewandowski, Haaland and Mbappé! But it is indeed the various recent rankings (top French scorer in history with 413 goals, 3rd top scorer in the history of Real, 4th scorer in the C1, etc.) that convinced him to have reached his worthy rank. very large thanks to its brilliant figures.

Absolute professionalism

Before, it was the titles that the cracks were going to look for. Now that’s the titles AND the stats. Of course, Karim has always taken care of his own, but with the departure of Real from CR7 in 2018, he has become even more predatory. He now plans to reach Thierry Henry’s record of 51 goals with the Blues, or even exceed him from the top of his 36 goals! Since last year, Karim has claimed more of the Ballon d’Or, an individual reward he couldn’t really envision during Cristiano’s time at Real. However, it is thanks to his flattering stats (goals and assists) that he can now consider being the winner of the 2022 edition…

And it is on the strength of his stats (goals and assists) that, since last year, Karim has claimed the Ballon d’Or loud and clear, an individual reward that he could not really have considered in Cristiano’s time. at Real. Today, he is off to a good start for the 2022 edition…

In addition to his innate talent revealed to Europe at the age of 18 on his debut in C1 at Gerland, in December 2005 against Rosenborg (2-1), Karim has been able to last until today when, at 34, he literally radiates . If we know that he has complied with the absolute professionalism of his ex-comrade CR7 (invisible preparation: food, sleep, muscle strengthening, sheathing exercises which have recently sublimated his heading game), Karim is a player who has a lot suffered less physical wear, in selection and in club, than his illustrious attacking colleagues.

71 blue matches missed

In the France team, between October 8, 2015 against Armenia (4-0) and June 2, 2021 against Wales in Nice (3-0), the date of his return, exactly 71 matches he missed with the Blues. And these 71 matches are almost two full La Liga seasons (76 matches precisely)! Despite himself, Karim thus zapped two major competitions where France reached the final, Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup and his trying journey in Russia. He also skipped the endless qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020, marked by long trips and sometimes difficult encounters, such as in the 2019 Nations League (against Germany and the Netherlands) or that of 2021 (against Croatia, Portugal and Sweden).

Less physical fatigue and less mental pressure over more than five years partly explain why the Madrid star certainly enjoys greater freshness than his fellow attackers. His return to blue, experienced by himself and the France of football as a rebirth, also acted as a real makeover. The images of Karim moved to tears greeting the Gerland public at the end of the recent France-Finland or during his first title in blue in the 2021 Nations League revealed the happiness of a suddenly rejuvenated man! Recalled at almost 29 years old in the French team in March 1981, Alain Giresse had experienced such a renaissance by relaunching a career suddenly magnified and stretched up to 36 years old…

In the same psycho-physical register, the 2019-2020 season marked by the Covid crisis was just as profitable for him, as for all uninfected footballers, due to the total interruption of La Liga between March 11 and June 11, 2020. Three months of forced rest not necessarily “repairman“ for organisms subjected to a just-in-time flow but which has preserved them during the harsh spring when the competitions are usually the most intense. Real were crowned champions on July 16 and resumed La Liga on September 11. Despite an express elimination in C1 in early August against Manchester City, Karim was able to breathe. In his late thirties, this energy saving in the spring of 2020 will have been profitable for him.

The perfect coaches

In club, always, we can notice very objectively that Karim did not immediately carry Real after the departure of Cristiano in 2018 either. Because it is indeed CR7, immense in the Champions League, who took the pressure. When he left Benz was impeccable but he also didn’t overperform in the Portuguese way, so much so that after 2018 Real weren’t very dominating in Spain and Europe, with just one Liga won in 2020 and a half of C1 the following year… It is really only this season when he explodes all the counters that Karim in turn raises the Meringues towards the peaks.

A season where “the Real Madrid effect“ (“the biggest club in the world“, according to the house motto) also plays full. Because if the stars have made Real, it is above all the opposite that is true: it is Real that makes the stars. And KB9 has benefited from it: at Real, where you have to grow up fast or die (and Karim has “killed“ all its competitors!), the prestige of the White House increases talent and energy tenfold. It is this strong feeling of belonging to the club in the 13 Champions League that transcends Benzema, proud to have in turn become one of the legends of the illustrious White House. Thierry Henry had made Arsenal grow but Arsenal did not consecrate Henry! Arsenal is not Real…

Other positive factors have consolidated the incredible prestige of Karim. In addition to the paternity which transformed the man, he was able to evolve under the orders of two ideal coaches. From Zidane, he learned a lot (sharper sense of the game, better tactical definition of his positioning) and he benefited from his constant support when he was banned from the Blues and that he endured the stains of the sex affair. -type.

Returning to Real this summer, Carlo Ancelotti subtly tickled the pride ofthe nine : “Benzema needs to score 50 goals, not 30, and Vinicius needs to score more as well”. A challenge initially insane but that Benzegol is simply realizing. He is already at 37 goals (plus 13 assists). Game leader, Karim also became captain, taking precedence over Marcelo, official but devalued captain. Bron’s gone became the bearer of the prestigious armband, again a vector of motivation, at the right age, at the right time, as Messi had ended up being captain at Barça.

And then there is the “miracle Vinicius“ : CR7 had rubbed off on Karim and Karim rubbed off on Vinicius about whom he had declared in The Team : “He’s the same player as last season. The only difference is that now he makes the right choices. He thinks. That’s what I taught him. “ CQFD. The transformed Brazilian, devourer and opener of space, finally plays fair, often scores the first goal which unlocks everything. His quick movements and his deep grips give Karim an interesting latitude of expression: Vinicius is his ideal complement in one-touch play and counterplay… just like Kylian is his ideal complement in the French national team! Griezmann completes the Karim-Kylian-Grizou trio in blue, just as Valverde completed the Vini-KB9-Valverde trio in white (see against Chelsea). Valverde and Griezmann are strikers but also duty players who do the hard work for the other two. The top for Karim, at his age.

Finally, like today’s top scorers, Karim evolves within a team that plays for him, with dedicated stars who put themselves at his service. Real remains this fortunate club which aligns a stable workforce which can work and improve over time. Playing with the excellent Kroos, Mödric and Casemiro, always hungry for titles, and with whom Karim “speak“ the same football could only push him even higher. Their masterclass at Stamford Bridge demonstrated this brilliantly…

Wise injury management, which deprived him of the Clasico in spite of himself, also got him through this extraordinary 2021-2022 season without too many hitches, where he too reinvented himself. Like CR7 or Messi have also reinvented themselves, or especially like his absolute idol, Ronaldo Lima, whose evolutionary register had expanded during his time at Inter…

But the real secret of Karim Benzema’s exceptional longevity at the highest level is quite simply that he loves football. He loves the game, the ball, his teammates. Passionately. As every word uttered in his recent interview with The Team : “My main goal was to become a sort of striker ‘ideal’ (…) So if I have revolutionized the post in my own way, it is my greatest achievement. “ This success takes shape with each passing week.