Karim Benzema: From Ronaldo’s passer to Ballon d’Or aspirant! Incredible numbers from the French cannonballer

For years, French canon Karim Benzema has created space and opportunities for his teammate and Real Madrid’s all-time leading scorer Cristiano Ronaldo. But now he is himself a major star, and not just at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Benzema in the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo

Karim Benzema has waited a long time to ascend the throne at Real Madrid, but this season he has finally put the royal crown on his head and has become the undisputed king of the Spanish giant. He proved that in yesterday’s Champions League quarter-final at Stamford Bridge.

Benzema has become a Los Blancos icon in a way that has seemed rather unlikely over the last decade. This was especially so given that all the attention in the Spanish capital was on Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

But after Ronaldo’s departure to Juventus Turin, the French forward’s star began to shine brightly. This season his numbers have been phenomenal and he is deservedly among the leading candidates for the Ballon d’Or. In 36 games for Real Madrid, he has already scored an impressive 37 goals.

His numbers at Real Madrid this season are incredible

At the weekend, Benzema converted two penalties with Celta Vigo and leads the Spanish La Liga goalscorers table with 24 accurate shots. Besides that, he is also the league’s top passer with 11 assists. Thanks to his form, Real lead the table by 12 points ahead of Barcelona.

In the Champions League, he is second in the scorers’ table with 11 goals, thanks to his hat-trick against Chelsea yesterday, which put his team close to the semi-final of the European competition. He is one goal behind Poland’s Robert Lewandowski.

It was his second successive hat-trick in the millionaire competition after he downed Paris Saint-Germain with three goals in just 17 minutes in the Champions League quarter-final rematch. It was his sixth goal in three LM knockout games, an amazing feat given the quality of the opposition at these stages of the season.

The French national team and Real Madrid have high hopes for the Benzema-Mbappé duo

The striker also made an impressive return to the international scene during last summer’s Euros and will be key for France at the Winter World Cup in Qatar. He will be 35 the day after the final, which is played on 19 December. That makes his form all the more admirable. At a time when most strikers are ending their careers, he is still going from success to success.

Benzema also played an important role in the Nations League, where he helped his country win the final against Spain last October, scoring twice and being named man of the match in the final. He is already forging strong links with his country with Mbappé, with whom he has formed a duo in the French national team that haunts the defences of potential opponents.

Mbappé, who has been linked with a move to Real Madrid all year, could thus feature alongside Benzema on the club scene. However, he is not coming to replace his older colleague in the France attack eventually, but to play alongside him. It is clear that the 35-year-old Benzema still has a lot to offer, having spent too long in the shadows to give up the limelight now.

Benzema is breaking records at Real Madrid

Benzema recently achieved the fascinating feat of becoming the third top scorer in Real Madrid’s rich history, leaving behind such legends as Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás and Hugo Sánchez. What’s more, he is only seven accurate shots short of Santiago Bernabéu darling Raúl González.

Although he will certainly not catch Cristiano Ronaldo for the top spot with an unbeatable 451 accurate shots, who knows who would one day be at the top of this statistic. If a Frenchman had taken the penalty kicks instead of Cristiano Ronaldo’s 91 converted penalties at Real Madrid, he could still shuffle the cards within the historical statistics of the Madrid club.

We’ll see where Benzema’s limits are later this season. It’s already been the best season of his career and the French star looks to have tuned up his incredible form for the end of the season. So we have a lot to look forward to!

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