Mourinho: Benzema is not obsessed with himself or the Ballon d’Or. He’s a team player and he’s obsessed with Real Madrid

Karim Benzema came home on Monday night to receive a big award. He deservedly won the Ballon d’Or and was officially crowned the best player in the world for the 2021/22 season.

Rarely has the outcome of the Ballon d’Or been as predetermined as this year. No one in the world doubted that the award for the best player in the world would go to Karim Benzema, who had the season of his life.

Moreover, a lot of people are rooting for the Real Madrid striker because he has been in the shadow of other stars for most of his career, never in the spotlight, but through hard work, he eventually scaled the top as well.

That Benzema has always been a team player and wasn’t so much concerned with personal achievements was confirmed by the experienced José Mourinho.

“Karim is a great person, a team player. He is not obsessed with himself, he is not obsessed with the Ballon d’Or, he is not obsessed with scoring more goals than this or that. He is simply a team player who does so much for the team that the Ballon d’Or becomes a natural consequence. He is a player obsessed with his team,” Mourinho said in an interview with L’Equipe.

The Portuguese coach managed Benzema in his early days at Real Madrid and so knows him well. And he knows all he has sacrificed to get to where he is now.

“His Ballon d’Or is the result of a lifetime of hard work and dedication rather than an obsession with personal achievement,” says the French coach, known as “Special One”.

Source: L’Equipe, MARCA