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Benzema, a Golden Ball without the World Cup

2022 has undoubtedly been the best year of Karim Benzema’s football career. The French striker received the Golden Ball in the twilight of his career, at the age of 34 (he turned 35 on December 19), thanks to the 44 goals he scored in 46 games played throughout the 2021-2022 season. They were the basis for the Real Madrid It will reap successes such as the fourteenth Champions League, La Liga, the European Super Cup and the Spanish Super Cup.

His contribution to the team led by Carlo Ancelotti was key to understanding the good course of the Madrid club, in which he is the captain and acts as the absolute leader. His 617 official matches and 329 goals wearing white endorse his legendary figure, present at the Santiago Bernabéu since he arrived from Olympique de Lyon in the summer of 2009.

Attacker with great associative capacity, exploited to the full when Cristiano Ronaldo and other stars monopolized the spotlight in the Real Madrid dressing room and Benzema had to adapt to the needs of his teammates with what this implies (emphasize less), the Frenchman arrived on the course He has reached the peak of his career, not only in terms of goalscoring, but also in terms of his football maturity, with stellar appearances in numerous vital moments.

For example: the hat-tricks he achieved in the second leg of the round of 16 of the top continental competition to help his team complete the comeback against PSG (3-1, 3-2 on aggregate) or the one he completed in Stamford Bridge in the first leg of the quarterfinals against Chelsea. The ‘9’ also scored a brace in the first leg of the semifinals at Manchester City’s homestead, as well as scoring and assisting in the second leg.

Bad relationship with Deschamps

Beyond the physical problems that have weighed him down towards the end of 2022, the only blemish of the year in which he has shone the most has been his relationship with the French team coach, Didier Deschamps, which has cost him his participation in the World Cup in Qatar.

Forward and selector had already had their pluses and minuses in the past. In fact, the Lyon-born player did not play a single game with Les Bleus between 2015 and 2021 (despite the long period in which he has been absent with the French team, Benzema played 97 encounters and scored 37 goals representing his country). It seemed that the situation had improved, since he played a crucial role in France’s qualification for the World Cup in 2021 and even traveled to Qatar, but everything went wrong when the attacker suffered a minor injury.

Despite the fact that he could have played for France from the round of 16, the team’s doctor, Franck Le Gall, He informed Benzema – following orders from Deschamps – that he had to leave the concentration before the start of the World Cup. A week later, after doing recovery work in Valdebebas, Benzema was on vacation, fully healed from his injury.

Meanwhile, the French coach responded “next question” when the journalists asked him at a press conference to explain the situation of the Real Madrid striker, who announced his retirement from the national team once the World Cup ended and played an exemplary role supporting his teammates throughout the tournament through messages posted on their social networks.

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