I don't know how he did it considering all his injuries this season.
So now what happens to Karim Benzema? | Hat-tricks, lots of hat-tricks
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I don't know how he did it considering all his injuries this season.
One of the few all-time greats that I've watched but never been particularly impressed with. I know I'm wrong, but that doesn't change how I feel.
We were linked with him in that 2008/2009 period before he went to Real. Shame we didn't pull the trigger when Tevez and Ronaldo left.
Just to show the uptick in his output since Ronaldo left (18/19 season).
Since the 18/19 season, Benzema has scored 156 goals (and counting) - 30, 27, 30, 44, 25, so in 4 and a 3/4s of a season (still a fair bit to go in this season).
His previous 157 goals came across the 7 seasons prior to Ronaldo leaving.
Since the 18/19 season, Benzema has scored 156 goals (and counting) - 30, 27, 30, 44, 25, so in 4 and a 3/4s of a season (still a fair bit to go in this season).
His previous 157 goals came across the 7 seasons prior to Ronaldo leaving.
For fecks sake. Please have mercy on us brother Karim. It is Ramadan bro.
is definitely racking up a few against Chelsea, albeit one will be a fluke goal, then an average goal, then another fluke goal
When a striker is in a team with Ronaldo they have to sublimate their game to his and do a lot of his running. It happened with Rooney and it happened with Benzema; both were selfless in supporting CR for the good of the team.
Very true but would still love a season of him
Recency bias. If you'd made that claim 7 years ago you'd have been laughed at. But 7 years ago, Benzema was 28 years old, around the age when you're supposed to be at your peak. What he's done is have a much better coda to his career than his main competitors for the best 21st century striker title. But they had much better periods before when Benz was not as prolific as he is now.
It's not simply linked. We bid for him and even higher than the fee Real Madrid paid for him. It happened that way because he has clause in his contract to move RM for the specific amount paid to Lyon.
It's another case the player himself having the final say on two bids accepted by his club.
https://en.as.com/en/2019/12/04/soccer/1575449372_770038.html
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This year, not this season.
My recollection of that is that Fergie came out after and said agents fees were a huge factor in that transfer. We declined to pay the super high commission to the agent that Real were willing to pay and that swayed the transfer to the towardsthe Spanish team. At the time we were there or there about the best team in Europe.
Same thing happened with Hazard. A Benzema/Rooney strike pairing would’ve been sensational. In fact that season we would’ve had Benzema, Rooney, Ronaldo and Tévez. Probably rotating with 3, but fees only all 4, as Rooney, Benzema and Tévez all worked hard, and Scholes and Carrick holding. Jesus wept. What a time.
That 08 team with VDS in net. Brown, Evra, Ferdinand and Vidic at the back, Scholes, Carrick and Hargreaves in midfield, and Rooney, Ronaldo and Tévez up front, was one of the best PL teams ever. Still had the likes of Giggs, Nani and Anderson off the bench and the next season added Berbatov. Benzema instead would’ve been insane.
I don't remember that for Benzema. It's only Ozil (went to Real Madrid for about 20mil Euro), which led to Rooney renewal saga, where Rooney questioning SAF's ambition. At that time, we lacked creativity and Ozil fit the bill perfectly. On the surface Ozil transfer fee was a bargain.
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Because it wasn't true 7 years ago quite simply ??
The age at which you perform is irrelevant. Benzema is clearly a better player in his 30s than he was in his 20s. And he's not the only striker for who that is the case, Zlatan became way more prolific in his 30s too.
No non english player will pick Man Utd over Real Madrid or Barcelona. Ronaldinho was the perfect example.
Ronaldinho had already agreed to join us. It was Martin Edwards wrangling at the last minute which made PSG accept Barca’s lower offer. Otherwise he was ours. We played silly buggers and Fergie was furious.
It’s a completely ridiculous sweeping statement to say NO non English player would choose United over the Spanish giants. That’s not true. It’s largely the case but it’s not 100% definitive over the course of our history. That’s a myopic generalisation. There are lots of other factors at play. Just recently Alvaro Fernandez chose to leave Real for United, snubbing a Real contract offer in the process.
If you're going to say someone is the best striker of the last 20 years (which is what the statement was, you might have missed that part) then you've got to explain why other contemporary number 9s are 100-200 goals ahead of him in their careers. It's not just about who is playing best in 2023.
Believe whatever you want. According to the player himself, he was closed to join Man Utd, until Barcelona gave him a call.
“It almost happened with United,” Ronaldinho told FourFourTwo. “It was a matter of 48 hours, but Sandro Rosell had told me way before I got the offer: ‘If I become Barca president, will you come?’ I said yes.
"It was only a matter of details with United when Rosell called to say he was going to win the elections there. And I had promised to him that I’d play for Barca… It was a quick negotiation.
“I told the English I had chosen Barca. It was the right choice. Brazilians have always loved Barca. We have a history there.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...ter-united-ronaldinho-barcelona-news-16137560
https://ronaldo.com/football-news/remembering-the-day-ronaldinho-rejected-man-united/
There are only three other strikers in the 21st century with more career goals than him.
Here are the club numbers
Lewandowski : 553
Zlatan : 511
Suarez : 469
Benzema 414
Then you have to factor in that Benzema is the only one here to never play outside Europe's top 5 leagues and that he spent 9 years on the same team as Ronaldo and would rarely ever play a full 90 as Ronaldo was impossible to sub for any manager.
He also wasn't the main penalty taker unt 21/22 after Ramos left.
In the end raw numbers aren't the all end to that sort of debate.
Benzema combines longevity,trophies,CL legacy, peak season and big game performances.
Can you say the same for the rest? I do believe Lewandowski has the first 4 criteria down but he's lacking in the fifth one and it was shown again yesterday.
Likewise for Suarez his peak was extraordinary and he won everything and was excellent for nearly a decade, but his CL numbers are shocking for a player of that caliber
All the candidates have weaknesses. Benzema's is that he has the least goals and zero golden boots. Which is pretty important for a striker. Also, he played with another guy who scored twice as many goals as he did in the time they were together. Another knock against him being the best of the players you listed.
He's also the only one with a ballon d'or which is a far better award than the golden boot.
Don't see where you're getting that with the second point because although playing with CR sure did help him win as many trophies as he did, he has proven since 2018 that he is a more prolific goal scorer when CR isnt around and that he can lead a team to CL and Liga titles as the main man too.
But I do agree that all these players have their strengths and weaknesses. I just think that Benzema ticks the most boxes.
Only 17 goals behind Haaland this season….
Both Mbappe, Haaland and Lewa have all scored more than him since Ronaldo left Madrid.
Without the exceptional 21/22 season he’d have a hard time getting mentioned among the top 10 strikers the last 20 years. Great player, but 1 out of this world CL campaign is not enough to put him up there.
Its not all about goals, try look up Benzema's assists compared to Lewandowski during their careers, not to mention one was a penalty taker, other wasn't.
Well we all know that Lewandowski would have won the Ballon D'Or in 2020 as he had the most domestic goals, the most goals in Europe, the most goals in the Champions League and also won the Champions League that year with Bayern. So I don't think that's as much of a unique thing to Benz as you think it is. I don't agree that Benz ticks more boxes than the other guys necessarily, there's things he has that the other guys don't have but then there's also things they have that he doesn't have (e.g. Golden boots, full careers at international level, longer periods as 'the guy' in a team, success with teams that are not massive trophy hoovering behemoths like Real Madrid etc etc.). But we'll have to just disagree on that I guess.
That’s mad. Rio called him the soundest player he played against, highlighting his intelligence in avoiding Vidic and his technique to get the strike away. These are relatively subtle things but when he does it so often - pulling off his man with pinpoint awareness, setting it up perfectly with a silky touch - I don’t know how you can fail to appreciate that.
But it’s not like his game is all about subtlety, he had loads of special moments just last season…volleys, panenkas, long range headers, backheel assists
He’s up there with Baggio, Bergkamp and Van Basten in having multiple goals that are in the conversation for one of the best ever touches, whether through pure ingenuity…
or pure class…
(1st against Valencia)
Yep.
Benzema is just a better and more versatile striker than any of them, it's pretty simple. His role in Madrid for 9 years was more about being a facilitator than a goalscorer, he still had a pretty good record anyway. Now he has been the main goalscorer for the last 5 seasons at Madrid and is still a great facilitator for the likes of Vinicius to shine.
He endured long enough to prove he can be the main man at Madrid, I don't think the other great strikers could've done that.
No disrespect to Lewandowski, he is firmly in my the top 3 over the last 10 years or so, but he just lacks a little bit of something, and even if you take penalties out of it, he is a bit better at scoring than Benzema is.
Now, as far as being the most versatile, i struggle with Suarez vs Benzema, the latter has a bigger big game impact, especially in UCL, but i watched Liverpool, at times he was their entire attack on his own it felt like, and during times Messi was injuried at Barca, he really stepped up.
He was more than a number 9, just like Benzema.
I have done an objective, logical analysis of why Benzema is indeed the best striker of the last 20 years and after reading it i'm sure everyone can't help but agree with me. It's very in depth, going through a combination of stats, individual season analysis, full career analysis, big games, big moments, etc.
Ready? Here it is:
Thanks for reading, and you're welcome
Ready? Here it is:
Karim Benzema is a Real Madrid legend, therefore he's the best strikers of the last 20 years
Thanks for reading, and you're welcome
Just sign him on a free transfer.
He wins hands down. Better than Lewa and Suarez. Suarez’s CL record is atrocious.
Suarez was a fantastic player but I still prefer Benzema due to him being more aesthetically pleasing to watch. Suarez flopping in Europe for the last few years of his career doesn't also help his cause in a direct comparison with Benzema who was even influential in his last awful season.
I deliberately said since Ronaldo left Madrid, from when Benzema became the main man at RM and “entered his prime”.
Here’s some stats from the 18/19 season and up to now:
Benzema: 156 goals (32 pens taken, 27 pens scored) and 52 assists in 18706 minutes
0,75 goals/90 minutes
0,62 non penalty goals/90 minutes
0,25 assists/90 minute
Since the start of last season Benzema has taken 23 penalties and missed 5
Lewandowski: 220 goals (38 pens taken, 33 scored) and 46 assists in 18671 minutes
1,06 goals/90
0,90 non penalty goals/90
0,22 assists/90
Since the start of last season Lewandowski has taken 11 penalties and missed 2
Mbappe: 181 goals (25 penalties takes, 20 scored) and 80 assists in 16608 minutes
0,98 goals/90
0,87 non penalty goals/90
0,43 assists/90
Since the start of last season Mbappe has taken 11 penalties and missed 3
Haaland (since he moved from Molde 1/1-2019): 157 goals (23 penalties taken, 21 scored) and 35 assists in 11699 minutes
1,22 goals/90
1,05 non penalty goals/90
0,28 assists/90
Since the start of last season Haaland has taken 14 penalties and scored all.
It’s not all about goals, but for a striker goals are of course important. As you can see, he’s been the pen-taker at RM pretty much the last 5 years
He‘s obviously a brilliant player, but is he the best striker the last 20 years?
No.
As goalscorers Suárez and Lewandowski are better than Benzema, but it think Benzema is the better player:
Bigger impact in big games, and more versatile, plus Benzema had to play 9 years with the ultimate goal machine Ronaldo upfront, and he could do that cause he is more than just goals.
Bigger impact in big games, and more versatile, plus Benzema had to play 9 years with the ultimate goal machine Ronaldo upfront, and he could do that cause he is more than just goals.
He might as well join Varane and Casemiro for the new experience 
Reality is is that he would probably have flopped at United.
But why limit it to just about 4 seasons of each players careers?
I will stick to career overall, and there Benzema is a better creator, Lewandowski is a better scorer, you can pick which one you prefer, and me the same.
Let’s say you have a stacked team and can choose between the following strikers for a Champions League game (stats from CL alone):
player 1: 0,98G+A/90 (0,74G/90 - 0,23A/90) technical 35 year old
player 2: 1,04G+A/90 goalscorer 34 years old
player 3: 1,20G+A/90 (0,43A/90) lightning fast versatile 24 year old
player 4: 1,74G+A/90 super fast physical monster 22 years old
I know player 1 looks tempting here, but who would you choose?
The one with arguably the greatest individual CL campaign of all time.
Well that’s as in-depth as the rationale for your opinion of Klopp’s Liverpool being as good as football team you’ve ever seen so at least you’re consistent.