Real Madrid's French striker won the top individual award at the Ballon d'Or gala in Paris

Karim Benzema: golden football

photo_camera AFP/FRANCK FIFE - Real Madrid's French striker Karim Benzema receives the Ballon d'Or award during the France 2022 Ballon d'Or award ceremony at the Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris on 17 October 2022

Karim Benzema, the nine that looks like a ten, received the 2022 Ballon d'Or at the age of 34 after a sensational last year with Real Madrid in which he won the Spanish League and the Champions League as top scorer in both competitions, 27 goals in La Liga and 15 goals in the Champions League, and after having played top-level football throughout last season, also with the France national team.  

A recognition to a football player in every sense of the word. In other editions there have been players who have stood out, in addition to their quality of course, for other more outstanding characteristics such as their goalscoring ability, like Cristiano Ronaldo, for being very spectacular or eye-catching in the game, like Ronaldinho, or for their goalscoring instinct and physical power, like Ronaldo Nazario.  

Benzema is not a typical striker. In his early days at Olympique Lyon he was considered the successor to Ronaldo Nazario because of his power and goalscoring ability, but he evolved into a type of striker who has always had a nose for goal, but who has not been eager for the limelight and has always preferred to play for the team and to provide other teammates with goals, as in the case of the play that he generated on many occasions for Cristiano Ronaldo to finish the scoring during their time together at Real Madrid. 

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The nine that is not limited to being a specialist when it comes to defining. A nine that plays football and who is capable of weaving the play in midfield with great class and with a dribbling ability and, above all, ball control within the reach of very few. All this combined, of course, with a shot with both legs and a header that is also at the level of the best centre forwards in the world.  

That is Karim Benzema, the nine-man of Real Madrid who won the Ballon d'Or by popular acclaim this year 2022 ahead of other names who could not even aspire to come close to the level of the Frenchman this football year, such as Sadio Mané, Liverpool striker now at Bayern Munich, Kevin de Bruyne, Manchester City midfielder, and Robert Lewandowski, striker last season at Bayern Munich and currently at Barcelona. 

The 2021-2022 season was a spectacular one for Karim Benzema. He played 46 games for Real Madrid and scored 44 goals (at a level of scoring average not seen since the best moments of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who shared the Ballon d'Or award for so many years), many of them in key matches such as in the Champions League play-offs against PSG, Chelsea and Manchester City, which led to epic comebacks and to the final in which Madrid beat Liverpool in Paris to win the 14th European Cup for the club from Chamartín. With the French national team, the goalscoring rate was also good, 6 goals in 10 games with the French jersey after his return to the French national team following the legal controversy over the Valbuena case. 

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An emotional Karim Benzema collected the award from Zinedine Zidane, also winner of the Ballon d'Or in 1998 and his coach at Real Madrid for so many years and with so much sporting success, and recalled the work he had done since he was a child when he dreamed of making it in his country and playing for Real Madrid and the French national team. Benzema alluded to the bad times he went through, although he pointed out that this is part of a path and a dream that is not easy, but that with hard work it can be achieved.  

"I'm very proud. I remember when I was a kid, all the relentless work, and for me it was a dream like any kid's dream. It was always in my head. Then I found the motivation for it," said Benzema after collecting the award from Zinedine Zidane. "I've had good role models in my life: Zizou, Ronaldo... It's the fruit of a lot of hard work, training, effort... But above all it's pursuing a dream that I've had in my head since I was a child. Everything is possible, for me it has been very difficult. I've achieved it, it hasn't been easy," he remarked.  

Benzema stood out early on at Olympique Lyon, signing his first professional contract at the age of 17 because of the great qualities he showed. His good performances in Ligue 1 and the Champions League with Lyon earned him the attention of many teams, but his intention was clear: to play for the most successful club on the European continent: Real Madrid.  

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Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid, fell in love with his game and went personally to Benzema's home in 2009 to sign him in the presence of his parents. A transfer that was closed for 35 million euros after tough negotiations with Lyon's president, Jean Michel Aulas, always a tough negotiator, who was also present at the Parisian gala.  

He arrived at Real Madrid that year alongside other stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká, both of whom also won the Ballon d'Or, and was in the shadows due to his less protagonist character, although he always showed his great footballing ability. He was Cristiano Ronaldo's faithful sidekick and a great provider of goals for the Portuguese star, and even alternated on the bench at times in fierce competition with the Argentine Gonzalo Higuaín, but the latter sought his place outside Madrid to go to Italy and Benzema won a permanent place in the famous front line that he eventually formed with Cristiano Ronaldo himself and the Welshman Gareth Bale, who arrived later.

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After the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo after winning the 13th European Cup and the gradual decline in Bale's performance, Karim Benzema took over the role of Real Madrid's attacking leader and took on the responsibility of scoring goals for the Madrid team, something he ended up doing quite naturally because he has always had the ability and because as an older and more established player he has been able to play that role to perfection and even the captaincy at Real Madrid, now serving as an exemplary model for the youngsters such as the Brazilians Vinicius and Rodrygo.  

Karim Benzema has already emerged as Real Madrid's second all-time top scorer, second only to the voracious Cristiano Ronaldo, and boasts an impressive record at the club. He has won a whopping 5 European Cups (only one behind the most successful player in this respect, also a Real Madrid player, Francisco Gento), 4 Club World Cups, 4 Leagues, 2 King's Cups, 3 European Super Cups and 4 Spanish Super Cups.  

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In Paris, he logically remembered all those who have been by his side. "Thanks to all my teammates both at Madrid and the French national team, to my coach, to my great president, who for me is a member of my family, because he gave me the opportunity to play and sign for Madrid one day and since that day he has always been by my side, he has supported me and trusted me. He has all my respect. I want to thank the whole Lyon academy, without them I wouldn't be here, and my family. It's an individual award, but it's still a collective award," concluded Benzema, surrounded by his family as he collected the title of best player in world football. A Ballon d'Or to recognise the golden football of an elegant player as the best midfielder and with a killer instinct as the best goalscorer. 

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