Home » News » Karim Benzema’s evolution to become the leader of Real Madrid, shining after Ronaldo’s departure

Karim Benzema’s evolution to become the leader of Real Madrid, shining after Ronaldo’s departure

In the midst of all the fuss caused by the fact that Karim Benzema has raised his level to reach fifth place in the ranking of Real Madrid’s historical scorers, apart from the recent goals scored by Sergio Ramos have made him the most prolific defender of The League of Spain, there is an important statistic that has gone under the table. Although it has to do with the brilliant white club hybrid gunner.

Since Cristiano Ronaldo’s abrupt departure for Juventus in the summer of 2018, Madrid have won three trophies. It would be silly to say that the club has been a disaster after the departure of the Portuguese star. However, the perception of a presumed direct correlation between the departure of CR7 from the squad has spread and that Madrid suddenly became a team of mortals in the competition that has dominated fiercely in recent history: the Champions League. Nor were they a merely competitive club in the previous season in the fight for the Spanish circuit title.

Ever since Cristiano packed suitcases and added a new shirt to his collection, there has been a suspicion (leading some to blame) that the players who remain on Madrid’s payroll have shrunk after the absence of the Portuguese gunner, that he they have felt reduced by not having that prince who for a long time dominated the rival area. The revolving door of technical directors entering and leaving the club have made Ciudad Real Madrid de Valdebebas and Santiago Bernabéu difficult, unforgiving and ungrateful workplaces.

In 2018 Zinedine Zidane left the technical direction by mutual agreement with the club’s management, seeking to renew energy after winning three Champions League trophies. From the point of view of the French strategist, it also implied a small warning to white President Florentino Pérez, who seemed to say: “If you want things to be your way, not mine, you will have to navigate this ship without my presence.”

Julen Lopetegui, who did not hide feeling miserable, entered and left in a matter of weeks after replacing Zidane, causing the Basque coach’s chance to win the Russian World Cup as Spain coach to be shattered. Santiago Solari (brilliant, expressive, modern, stubbornly married to a series of clear tactical principles) arrived (to leave shortly afterwards) with the task of ensuring that the club could emerge from extremely stormy waters, to be dismissed after Florentino exhausted his characteristically poor patience. And that was how Zidane returned, initially in the midst of strong doubts regarding whether a second coming of the French star turned into a successful coach was a visionary or desperate movement due to bewilderment.

During all this time, with the same consistency of a metronome, Benzema stood on the plate. Despite being surrounded by a footballing version of chaos, despite suddenly seeing himself playing a completely different role than the “tame” characteristics he adopted to help Cristiano shine in his role as team leader, despite taking on new ones. Immense responsibilities and pressure (surrounded by a midfield that added low-level performances last season), the French striker has currently managed to add an impressive 52 goals since he, and his club, said goodbye to his shirt player 7 almost two campaigns ago.

I think this is an extremely remarkable feat.

You just have to stop to think about it. Some forwards require three tournaments to even get close to that total. Benzema did it in 93 games, which represents an average significantly higher than a goal for every two games. The fact that he is between 30 and 32 years old during most of the period in question and that he has frequently had to act as the only “center-forward” tells us a profoundly significant story. Said in simple terms, Benzema has had the physical and mental level to withstand the tantrums, harassment, pressure and burning intensity that come with being Madrid’s top scorer in a number of games close to a hundred for two seasons .

We now review the other statistic that helps distinguish those attackers who have “what it takes” to shine and can be tried as members of the elite. Apart from those 53 goals, this misunderstood, underrated and cold-headed Rolls Royce player has also contributed the meager figure of 20 assists. Far from surrendering to the pressure for not continuing to count on his side with the tireless thirst for goals and daily triumphs of Cristiano (not to speak in important meetings), Benzema has had a personal mission to show everyone within his club which is the best way of reacting to adverse circumstances. And if you let me focus on the Benzema game more thoroughly, I will only find positives.

During the last two seasons, Benzema has not enjoyed the advantage of having a center-forward at his side worthy of being named in this way, either by helping him, feeding on him, allowing him to rest or taking away the responsibility of scoring goals or It compensated him during a dry period for the French.

In the first post-Christian season, Madrid made clumsy attempts for a long time to incorporate a true gunner into their ranks, to the point of having Mariano, who ended up making three appearances as an initialist and adding a total of close to 400 minutes in competitions. next to Benzema. How did this Lyon-born lion, who grew up idolizing the real Ronaldo (the Brazilian, brilliant and better than his namesake who plays after him), react to such discouraging circumstances? Generating the second best total scorer (30) of his 11-year stay in Madrid.

During this course, the situation of Luka Jovic has been a joke. Benzema’s employers signed for € 60 million a striker whose modus operandi is to generate a repeated flow of optimal crossings in front of the area, from extreme forward positions despite the fact that Madrid under the command of Zidane, has wide preference for goals produced to the counter, long-distance shots and a very well-built deconstruction with a touch or two that goes beyond a closed defensive opponent. It is not that Madrid never shoots the ball from the left wing in the way so desired by a strong gunner as Jovic is. Only this tactic ends up being one of the least identifiable characteristics of Zidane’s Madrid style.

What’s the score? Jovic ends up feeling lost and, therefore, his adaptation slows down to the point that his coach ends up losing faith in him. Again, Benzema is devoid of a partner in the attack to help him win extra space by committing the defenders, thus losing the option of making juicy spikes or those typical plays of a traditional 9. Is Jovic a player capable of scoring goals and taking pressure off Benzema when he feels exhausted or out of level? Forget about it.

All this brings us to one more obstacle that Karim has had to face during this season.

There seemed to be a good chance of a cordial entente between the representatives of the Belgium and France teams in the Madrid dressing room. Eden Hazard was born to play with Benzema. They get along well off the court: one is somewhat more reserved; while the other is more sociable, who lives life with a permanent smile on his face and full of charisma, describing them respectively. However, they both share the idea that soccer should be beautiful, skillful, stunning and fun.

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Hazard arrived at Madrid with a certain overweight, was injured and then showed, instantly after his return, that he is 100% on the same wave of Benzema. Everything indicated that the game of both was about to “click” until it became something beautiful and elegant until Hazard, due to facts beyond his discretion, fell injured again. Now that we are all back to enjoying the action in the first division of Spanish football, it has suddenly become quite an emotion to hear that beautiful music that the duo manages to perform together.

A demonstration of this was palpable in the match against Mallorca. Hazard began running in his new role as 10. He delivered the ball from midfield, without needing to check his exact mental image, understanding that Vinicius and Benzema were brilliantly positioned. After the Brazilian rushed to take possession of the ball, what followed was a sensational “one-two”: Benzema controlled with one foot and made a pass with laser precision to deliver the ball to Vinicius, who did an Olympic sprint to overwhelm the defense of Mallorca. For Madrid fans, it only mattered the fact that Vinicius hit the crossbar instead of scoring. However, for the rest of us, vivacious soccer lovers, it was a tremendously beautiful moment.

But that play in Wednesday night’s game doesn’t compare to Benzema’s performance last week against Valencia, when he dominated the best game I’ve seen in the European leagues this season.

After having fed on Hazard’s clean assistance to increase the advantage in an interesting and balanced match that kept a goalless draw near the 60th minute, Benzema had the best goal of the Spanish League so far this season up his sleeve,

After Marco Asensio converted a beautiful goal, celebrating his first touch of the ball in competitions after a year of absence recovering from an injury, the young Majorcan started a swift career after a cross received from Toni Kross. Asensio ended up handing it over to Benzema with optimism. During his career, the protagonist of our story juggled while in possession of the ball, with the part of his right boot in front of what was intended to be an interception by Hugo Guillamon. But Benzema did not lose his composure, he observed that the ball fell slightly towards his left foot and he released a forceful volley towards the right corner of the goal taken care of by Jasper Cillessen.

I remain convinced, and even said it live during my commentary on the match, that a demonstration of gymnastic balance of such caliber, at such breakneck speed and making decisions in a matter of milliseconds, constitutes an impossible feat for human beings. Perhaps ninja robots can emulate it in a kind of computer-generated future. That football artwork should have its dedicated space in the galleries of the Prado Museum in Madrid, or the Louvre in Paris. It was so beautiful.

In short: if Benzema is an underrated player, it is not a product of his actions. It is that those who fail to appreciate it well should know it better.

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