BENZEMA. While the Ballon d’Or will be awarded in less than a week, the Frenchman Karim Benzema receives the support of a large number of players in the world of football.
There are only a few days left, perhaps, for Karim Benzema to be officially crowned the best player on the planet by obtaining the prestigious Ballon d’Or. If last year the coronation of Leo Messi was a real surprise, that of Karim Benzema could be a just reward after his remarkable season. Winner of La Liga and the Champions League. Best player in the championship and the most prestigious of competitions with the added bonus of the title of top scorer, Karim Benzema ticks all the boxes. Beyond trophies and statistics, the Real striker also had a big influence at key moments of the season such as during the duel against PSG or Manchester City in the final phase of the Champions League.
For a few days, weeks, the Frenchman has also received the support of a large number of players in the world of football. Kaka, Sadio Mané, Didier Deschamps… All bet on the Frenchman. On the sidelines of the presentation of Laurent Blanc on the OL bench, Jean Michel Aulas also hopes for the consecration of his former player. “I would love for Karim to be joined by a student from the Academy. He deserves it. We are very proud of him. I’m also happy for the president of Madrid, who came to get Karim, he’s a great man that I salute”.
On paper, the Real Madrid striker doesn’t have much competition for this 2022 edition of the most prestigious individual trophy. First of all, Karim Benzema is in a legendary club, Real Madrid, and is even the captain. Throughout the season, he had a constant influence on the meetings by being regularly decisive. His statistics are at the height of a future Ballon d’Or with 44 goals in 46 matches and a title of top scorer in the last Champions League.
Beyond the statistics, Karim Benzema has won several trophies in 2021 which is supposed to reward this Ballon d’Or 2022. In the France team, the Frenchman won the League of Nations, a more anecdotal trophy than the Euro de football, but a national trophy is never negligible. In club, “KB9” could not do better with the victory in the Champions League with his club Real Madrid and the Spanish championship. A few days ago, on the sidelines of the draw for the group stage of the Champions League, Karim Benzema also won the UEFA best player of the year trophy…
Karim Benzema has indeed been playing with a major bandage in his hand for nearly two seasons now. A strap that is put on him before each match and which is not without raising some questions among the fans of the Blues. Benzema actually suffered a hand injury in January 2019, during a La Liga game against Betis Seville. After contact, the Madrid striker then fell and landed badly on the right hand. Race record: fractured little finger. That day, Karim Benzema, steeped in pain, will be unable to finish the game. He will however be aligned the following days, his coach at the time, Santiago Solari, judging the fracture not very problematic for his immediate performances, as for the rest of his career. According to Le Figaro, which recalls the anecdote, Karim Benzema has never taken the time to treat this shock-deformed little finger! Which explains this impressive bandage that wraps a good part of his hand in every game since. The return to the France team and Benzema’s participation in the Euros will have further delayed the deadline. Unless Benzema ended up seeing this bandage as a kind of lucky charm…
In 2009, the center forward joined the Real Madrid club. His transfer is estimated at 35 million euros. But the debut in the Madrid jersey is not easy. His coach, Manuel Pellegrini preferring striker Gonzalo Higuain, Karim Benzema spends more time on the sidelines than on the pitch.
In 2010, José Mourinho took over the reins of the merengue club and pushed the French footballer to his limits, not hesitating to take him to task in the press. But Karim Benzema does not let himself be destabilized and works. His efforts paid off as he finished as the club’s second top scorer with 26 goals in all competitions, just behind club star Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 2011/2012 season gives the striker a new dimension. Indeed, Karim Benzema is rewarded with an undisputed starting place. On numerous occasions, the footballer proved to be decisive, so much so that the Spanish press regularly called him a saviour. Nicknamed Karim Benzegoal, the center-forward is crowned top French scorer in the history of Real Madrid ahead of the illustrious Zinedine Zidane. The center-forward won the Champions League four times between 2014 and 2018 and a La Liga in 2017, during one of the most prosperous periods for the Merengue club.
If success is at the rendezvous on the Iberian Peninsula, the player is struggling to shine in the France team. He will even hold the sad record of 1,222 minutes spent without scoring a goal. In 2014, he returned to the nets and flew to the World Cup in Brazil where France lost in the quarter-finals. In 2021, the French striker is now one of Real Madrid’s captains. He notably scored the 1000th goal in Real Madrid history in the Champions League last October.
Present at Real Madrid since 2009, the striker has often extended his contract. Put in competition several times, Benzema has always been able to keep his starting place in Madrid. In 2019, he receives a salary of 10 million euros, which makes him one of the highest paid French people in the world.
Karim Benzema had a daughter, Mélia, in February 2014 with a young nurse, Chloé de Launay. However, the couple separated two years later. Since then, the Frenchman has had a romance with a model Cora Gauthier, who gave him a son, named Ibrahim. The Frenchman does not like to expose his private life, which gives way to several rumors concerning in particular a return of Chloe in his love life.
