Benzema, before his favorite victim

Benzema has a chapel in La Catedral. Athletic is the Frenchman’s favorite victim. San Mamés is not one of his most favorite stadiums, but Karim is one of the main executioners of the rojiblancos since the lions opened their new stadium. A ‘cruelty’ towards Athletic that was not an obstacle for the fans of San Mamés to see him off last season with an ovation after a sublime performance in which he knocked out Athletic with two goals in the first seven minutes of the game. Just 13 months after that glorious night (it was December 22, 2021), Benzema returns to San Mamés for a double date with history: become the top foreign scorer in the new San Mamés and hunt down Raúl in the ranking of top scorers in the history of the League.

The white 9 have scored 18 goals in the 27 games they have played against Athletic, more than any other team. Behind the lions on the list of Benzema’s victims are Valencia (16 goals, also in 27 games) and Granada (14 in 17 games).

Those 18 goals from Benzema against Athletic are distributed unevenly: 12 have been at the Bernabéu, 5 at San Mamés and one on neutral ground, in last season’s Super Cup semifinal in Riyadh. But those five goals in Bilbao help Karim to share with Messi and Griezmann the title of visiting top scorer at the new San Mamés. Tonight he has an opportunity to undo that tie and enlarge his figure as one of the biggest black beasts for Athletic. Only Messi (29 goals), Hugo Sánchez (20) and Mundo (19) have scored more goals against the rojiblancos in their 125-year history.

And even so, it is not the field that is best given to the French as a visitor, who, away from the Bernabéu and Di Stéfano, has scored eight goals in Balaídos, Mestalla and the RCDE Stadium and six in Ipurua. Since he played for Madrid, Benzema has left his notch in 56 different stadiums.

LaLiga Santander 2022/2023

*Data updated as of January 21, 2023

Benzema is in another historic battle for climb positions in the league’s all-time top scorers. With his target 15 days ago, Villarreal equaled Di Stéfano in sixth position in that ranking. 227 goals for each one. With a little more he will leave the Spanish-Argentine behind and will equal Raúl as the fifth top scorer in the 94-year history of the League. And this season it is still highly feasible that he will reach Hugo Sánchez (234 goals) and get closer to an Athletic legend like Zarra, whose record of 252 goals lasted for almost 60 years until Messi beat him in November 2014 and later, in March 2016, Cristiano Ronaldo also surpassed him.

This season, in which he has lost nine games due to injury, Benzema has eleven goals in all competitions, which makes him the top scorer for Madrid tied with Vinicius. In the League, the Frenchman fights to revalidate the Pichichi he won last season. He has scored eight goals and has Barça player Lewandowski (12 goals) and Espanyol player Joselu (10) ahead of him, as well as four other players who keep up the pulse with eight goals, the same figure as a Benzema who attends a double date with the history.

Top scorers in the history of the League