UEFA Best Player: who was the best player in the opening round of the Champions League semi-finals? Karim Benzema dismissed the debate

The world’s most exclusive club competition, the Champions League, has entered the quarter-finals. The Ruik.cz portal, which represents the Czech Republic in the Best Player UEFA poll of the German magazine Kicker, was looking for the best player of this part as usual. The French striker Karim Benzema in the Real Madrid jersey eclipsed all others with a hat-trick against Chelsea FC.

Neither the desire for originality, the desire to differentiate themselves from the others or to find a surprising choice led any of the judges to name the best player of the opening round of the Champions League quarter-finals as anyone other than Karim Benzema, the French battler in the Royal Real Madrid jersey, who scored a hat-trick to humble defending champions Chelsea FC.

He clearly shone above the other football stars, the debate over who should be the best not at all admitted. “It’s quite hard to praise and not repeat yourself all the time,” realises Karel Brettschneider, bookmaker at the Chance bookmaker. “Especially in the case of Karim Benzema,” he adds with a sigh filled with admiration.

Finding reasons why the Lyon native was the best was not difficult. “He clearly dominated against Chelsea, the three goals speak for themselves,” Brettschneider backs up the facts. “Even though the home side conjured up one goal for him themselves, it is still the case that Chelsea’s defence is one of the best and it has been a long time since a player has been humbled like that,” he also points to the defending champion’s strength, which only makes Benzema’s feat more valuable.

He sees the White Ballet striker as one of the most distinctive personalities in world football. “In practically every important match, he shows that his performance is rather increasing with age. He is in the form of his life at the moment and is destroying one tough opponent after another,” says Brettschneider.

“His influence showed when he was absent against Barcelona. Suddenly Real were a completely different team,” he observes. “With him in the line-up, Real can go very far,” pulling the Spanish team very high in the battle to win the world’s most valuable club trophy.

Benzema’s absence in the most watched duel in the Spanish La Liga, in which perennial rival FC Barcelona clearly dominated, was picked up by regular jury member Erich Brabec. “Coach Ancelotti stated that it may have come at the right moment, that his indispensable charge will return after the break and will be unsustainable at the end of the season,” he peeked under the hood of the Madrid club.

“Benzema needed to rest, to finish his knee, and now he’s great. Two heavy headed finishes against Chelsea, plus a gift from the opposition, but he went for it as only he can,” Brabec credited the French international with a big third goal.

Former national team defender Milan Fukal went to great lengths to find someone who could come close to the French canon, but he didn’t. “No point in complicating things, Karim Benzema,” he throws his voice on the pile to the others.

As a former stopper, however, he also notes the actions of German and England teammate Antonio Rüdiger on Benzema’s third goal. “Even though goalkeeper Mendy gave him a terrible pass, he could have dealt with it just fine,” he explains based on his years of experience.

“He could have gone into a slide, blocked Benzema with both feet and not pushed him over and scored into an empty net. Or he could have hit the ball for a corner, there was no one behind them,” Fukal offers another possibility. “But he tried to solve the situation with a pass, standing up, that didn’t work,” declares the former Hamburger SV German prop.

At the same time, however, he gives Benzema a lot of credit for the goal, considered a huge mistake by Chelsea’s defence and a gift to their opponents. “He went for a seemingly lost ball, put the proper emphasis into the duel, finished it on the edge of the rules,” Fukal notes.

“He also went into Italian goalkeeper Donnarumma like that against Paris-Saint Germain and actually started the turnaround in the whole double-header,” recalls another of Benzema’s strengths. “He works for the team,” joins Brabec.

Milan Štěrba, chief commentator for the Nova Sport television station, which broadcasts the Champions League and devotes extensive space to the competition, looked at the statistics. “Benzema is rewriting the annals,” he points out.

“For the first time in the European Cups, someone managed to score three goals for Chelsea, it is his fourth hat-trick in his career, Real won for the first time on the ground of a London team, at the sixth attempt,” he calculates the transcripts in the chronicle. “Benzema has amazing shooting form, the choice was easy,” confirms Sterba.

Jury vote:

Erich Brabec:: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

Karel Brettschneider:: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

Milan Fukal:: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

Milan Sterba:: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

Source: UEFA