There are just five players in Champions League history who have scored more than 50 goals.
Cristiano Ronaldo stands way out in front on 120, followed by Leo Messi and his century. Raúl’s 71 was the record for an age, and behind him is the super clinical Ruud van Nistelrooy, whose 56 is equalled by Karim Benzema.
Four of these men have spent significant time as the primary goalscorer of their teams. The go-to guy in terms of finishing off chances and making the difference. However impossible it may seem, one of them has spent the majority of his career in Europe’s elite competition playing second fiddle: Karim Benzema.
One would imagine it is impossible to low-key become one of the Champions League’s top five all-time goalscorers, but Benzema has done it. The reason? A lifetime in the shadows of Cristiano Ronaldo, his Madrid teammate from 2009 to 2018. The man who, in that time, became the greatest goalscorer the competition has ever seen, scoring more than double Benzema’s total.
It’s easy to compare Benzema negatively to Cristiano. Here was a player always getting into trouble off the field, who struggled with his weight and who seemingly misses easy chances semi-regularly going up against a player who scores goals at a superhuman rate, is in tremendous shape and whose PR is so well-managed that even when he admits to defrauding the Spanish government on his tax return, little mention is made of it.
“People who like football have to like Karim Benzema.”
Basically, it’s easy to look at the highlight reels and stat sheets and conclude that the Frenchman is someone who has ridden the coattails of Cristiano Ronaldo’s excellence. And thus, expected him to flounder without the Portuguese. Hell, even France didn’t need him to reach two finals in two years, winning the World Cup with the crushing mediocrity of Olivier Giroud in attack.
Zinedine Zidane last season, amid suggestions his No.9 was overrated, became exasperated with the fact he was so often forced to defend him: “They’re never going to stop arguing about him. He’s very good and that’s that.” Just a few months later, the former Real Madrid manager was again fielding questions on Benzema. This time he felt the need to note, “People who like football have to like Benzema.”
So what the hell is going on with Madrid right now? Why does Benzema have five goals in his first four games of the season?
Well, it turns out that Karim Benzema has been world-class this whole time; and the only reason he didn’t rack up more gaudy numbers and perhaps end up challenging Raúl’s Champions League record is simply that he chose, for the good of the Real Madrid team, to sublimate himself for Cristiano Ronaldo’s benefit.
You can see the logic here. Benzema is a brilliant all-around striker whose movement is so intelligent and link-play so fluid that he’s able to be a point-man for a goalscoring second striker. And Cristiano is the paragon of goalscoring second strikers. He’s the ideal partner for Cristiano Ronaldo in attack, taking up the role Wayne Rooney pioneered at Old Trafford when Cristiano first went supernova.
But Benzema was the sidekick for much longer than Rooney ever was. He endured eight seasons of playing second fiddle, of always being removed first so that the star men could play on and on. Of never having his tactical importance to Cristiano’s feats appreciated (and you can rest assured Cristiano couldn’t have done what he did without Benzema), while having his every miss pored over like the Zapruder film.
All of which distorted the perception of Benzema’s ability. People genuinely thought he wasn’t special because he was playing a supporting role, and hilariously overlooked how many colossal goals he scored that tipped the balance of Real Madrid’s success, like his crucial goal in the 1-0 semi-final first-leg victory over Bayern Munich back in 2014, setting the stage for Madrid’s second leg superheroics.
What we’re seeing from Benzema now is a fresher, happier player. Someone who has finally been given pride of place at the head of his side’s attack. He doesn’t have to make decoy runs or work the channels to make space as a primary instinct. He can still do those things, of course (and he does because that’s just the kind of player he is) but he is now allowed to be selfish, and focus on his own goalscoring.
In essence, Karim Benzema is now, at the grand old age of 30, having that same endorphin rush of finally being the main striker that Wayne Rooney had in 2009/10 when Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United to join Real Madrid. That year Rooney hit 34 goals in all competitions and was on course to led United to another European Double until an ankle injury brought it all crashing down.
Can Benzema have that same surge in production now he is out of Cristiano Ronaldo’s shadow? The early answer seems to be yes.
Hold onto your hats, folks, Karim Benzema the lowkey legend is about ready to leap into the limelight.
The post Karim Benzema: Real Madrid’s low-key legend looks ready to put the ‘overrated’ tag to bed appeared first on Squawka News.
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