Was this ever in any doubt? Karim Benzema has topped the world of football as he has won his first, and definitely well-deserved, Ballon d’Or, finally cementing his place as one of the greatest strikers ever.
I guarantee you that, back in 2013-16, you would either be called a lunatic or just simply laughed at if you said that not only would Karim Benzema be considered as one of the world’s best strikers, but also would win the Ballon d’Or in 2022.
In fact, many of those skeptics would have said that it would be more likely that Karim Benzema would be applying his trade at Burnley in 2022, rather than just coming off his 5th Champions League win as Real Madrid’s leading striker.
That’s how much hate the French forward got as the understudy to Cristiano Ronaldo back in Real’s glory days of the 2010’s.
And, to be honest, it was kind of deserved as Benzema was nowhere near the player he is today. Whether it was down to a lack of confidence as being the Robin to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Batman, the pressures of playing before the ruthless Real Madrid crowd, or his scoring tallies down due to Ronaldo’s place as the main goal scorer, Benzema was simply a cog in the Madrid machine.
And he was a divisive cog at that. If you go back to some of those games and look at some of highlights and what people were saying about him, you’d never have believed that he would rise to the pinnacle of European football either. He was simply a different (more like worse) player than he is today, which is why his ascent is so fascinating and inspiring,
Like I said, after winning a double (La Liga and the Champions League) in 2021/22 along with the UEFA Super Cup this past summer, Benzema has finally taken a step out of Cristiano Ronaldo’s huge shadow and has formed his own in Real’s long, glorious history.
Without Benzema’s 44 goals last season, Real Madrid would never have won the Champion League or even La Liga. Those goals against PSG and Manchester City in the knockout rounds were extremely vital and changed the fate of Madrid’s CL campaign. The Frenchman was the obvious choice for this French-based award. Wink. Wink.
No, I’m just kidding. Whether Benzema was French, English, Spanish, or even Finnish, he was the best player in the world last season.
Nonetheless, I must say that Sadio Mane (who came in 2nd), Kevin De Bruyne (who came in 3rd) and Robert Lewandowski (who came in 4th), and Mo Salah (who came in 5th) were all more than deserving of this honor as they were outstanding at Liverpool, Manchester City, and Bayern Munich, respectively.
But Benzema was just a little bit better and deserved this award just a little bit more.
Congratulations, Karim Benzema, this great honor is well earned.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Wikimedia Creative Commons License/Author: Антон Зайцев) (Антон Зайцев, CC BY-SA 3.0 GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons)
