ReportageThe figures show how important Karim Benzema is for Real Madrid: The Frenchman now scores more goals under Zinédine Zidane than Cristiano Ronaldo! Not only the coach is full of praise for Real’s record legionnaire.
Karim Benzema continues to work on his legendary status – Photo: imago images / EFE Agency
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Zidane and Santillana rave about it
MADRID. After another brace in the game against the Athletic Club is Karim Benzema once again on everyone’s lips. His coach even considers him the best French striker of all time. “For me, Benzema is the best. His collection of titles speaks for itself. He’s a very complete player today. He’s not a pure nine who only thinks about goals – and I love that. He plays along, thinks like a colleague and is committed to the team “, said Zinédine Zidane after 3-1 win against the LaLiga-Dino to the press representatives.
Already after the 2-0 success in the last group game of the Champions League and his brace, Real legend Carlos Santillana was very enthusiastic. “Benzema has always convinced us with his way of playing. But now he is playing at the top and using the team’s game. He is about to surprise us all. First he convinced with his team-friendly game, now also with his goals “Reals former storm legend told Radio MARCA.
Real’s record legionnaire
Against Athletic, Benzema played his 529th game for the Spanish record champions. Since the derby against Atlético, the attacker has been the non-player with the most appearances for Los Blancos when he passed Roberto Carlos (527) in the ranking. Behind them are Marcelo (515 appearances) and Cristiano Ronaldo (438). “An amazing evening, I am proud of my team and of myself for this milestone“, so Benzema.
Real’s number 9 also recently made history in the Champions League – and conquered ninth place. With 125 appearances in the premier class, he has now reached the top 10 record players and currently shares the rank with Clarence Seedorf. The top trio are Iker Casillas (177), Cristiano Ronaldo (172) and Xavi Hernández (151).
Top scorer without a penalty
On Tuesday evening, the former French international marked his goals five and six in LaLiga, making him the player with the Most goals in the Spanish championship, if you do not count penalty goals. They are followed in this category by Iago Aspas and Luis Suárez, each with five goals.
“Everyone sees football a little differently. There are people who only pay attention to the goals, but there are also other things such as movement on the pitch or the right passes “, describes Benzema himself: “But I’m a striker who can score goals too.”
With his 259 goals (plus 138 assists from 529 games), the Frenchman is the fifth best scorer in the club’s history at Real Madrid, behind Cristiano Ronaldo (451 goals), Raúl González Blanco (323), Alfredo Di Stéfano (308) and Carlos Santillana (290) . More than just a “space maker”!
In addition, statisticians calculated that Benzema has scored the most header goals in all competitions of all players from the European top 5 leagues since the 2018/19 season after Robert Lewandowski (28): 19.
19 – Only Robert Lewandowski ???????? (28) has scored more headed goals than Karim Benzema ???????? (19) since the start of 2018/19 in all competitions among players in the top five European leagues. Swipe. pic.twitter.com/CwhpaIhxFs
– OptaJose (@OptaJose) December 15, 2020
As important as Cristiano Ronaldo?
Benzema is seamlessly building on his strong previous season, in which he scored 27 competitive goals and eleven assists on top of that. In 16 appearances this season, there are now ten goals and three assists. With 104 minutes per goal participation, Benzema is also the second most effective after Rodrygo (95 minutes).
And: Statistically, the 32-year-old is a tad more important to Zinédine Zidane than Cristiano Ronaldo was once. The Portuguese scored 28 percent of all Real Madrid goals (112 of 393) in the first Zidane era, while Benzema has been solely responsible for 29 percent of all goals (44 of 148) since the return of the French coach.
“Zizou” is well aware of the importance of his compatriot for the team: “Karim impresses me, but I’m not surprised. He’s always doing great things, whether he’s on 9 or 10. For me that is very spectacular “, enthused the coach after the game against Mönchengladbach.
Although already at an advanced age as a footballer, Benzema is still a long way from football retirement. In 98 competitive games over the past two seasons, the attacker made the scorer’s list 56 times. A worthy successor for the French is not really in sight. When it comes to Santillana, madridismo doesn’t have to worry about it for a long time. “He will bring Real Madrid many more successes and I hope he will continue for many years to come”, the former striker, who chased goals for Real between 1971 and 1988, is optimistic about the future.
The question of whether he is the best French attacker of all time can of course be debated. However, there can no longer be any doubt that Karim Benzema has been extremely important to Los Blancos for eleven years. Especially since the possibly “best Benzema of all time” has now even overtaken CR7 in a statistic!
- Competitive stakes: 529
- Tore: 259
- Assists: 138
- UEFA Champions League (4): 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018
- UEFA Super Cup (3): 2014, 2016, 2017
- Spanish Championship (3): 2012, 2017, 2020
- Spanish Cup (2): 2011, 2014
- Spanish Supercup (3): 2012, 2017, 2019
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Reportage
According to Zidane, “France’s best striker”: best Benzema of all time?
The figures show how important Karim Benzema is for Real Madrid: The Frenchman now scores more goals under Zinédine Zidane than Cristiano Ronaldo! Not only the coach is full of praise for Real’s record legionnaire.
Laut Zidane „Frankreichs bester Stürmer“: Bester Benzema aller Zeiten?
18.12.2020, 07:59
https://www.realtotal.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-16-karim-benzema.jpg
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