Prime Benzema has been a starter throughout his career (except 1-2 seasons rotating with Higuain). That's why I'm counting by games instead of minutes.
I'm not "arbitrarily" selecting the players' primes. Not everyone have their breakout seasons at the same time. A 20-year-old Harry Kane was a bench warmer for Tottenham while a 19-year Benzema made 31 goals at the same age. It would be equally unfair if I included underwhelming stats from a player who's clearly past his prime.
That's why it's much more interesting to look how good these players actually were in their prime years.
As for Champions League, it doesn't provide nearly as big of a sample size compared to domestic league campaigns. Also, not everyone have the luxury to play Champions League every year. Luis Suarez & Cavani didn't start play UCL consistently until they were 27.
For the sake of argument, I'll use goals-per-90min stats from top 5 leagues during their prime years. The minutes is taken from Transfermarkt.
Prime Robert Lewandowski (11/12-20/21): 234 league non-penalty goals in 26 546 minutes =
0.79 goals per 90
Prime Luis Suarez (12/13-20/21): 210 league non-penalty goals in 24 363 minutes =
0.78 goals per 90
Prime Gonzalo Higuain (08/09-17/18): 193 league non-penalty goals in 23 762 minutes =
0.73 goals per 90
Prime Edinson Cavani (10/11-18/19): 178 league non-penalty goals in 23 282 minutes =
0.69 goals per 90
Prime Sergio Aguero (07/08-19/20): 220 league non-penalty goals in 30 050 minutes =
0.66 goals per 90
Prime Harry Kane (14/15-20/21): 139 league non-penalty goals in 19 674 minutes =
0.64 goals per 90
Prime Karim Benzema: (07/08-20/21): 215 league non-penalty goals in 32 744 minutes =
0.59 goals per 90
Prime Zlatan Ibrahimovic (04/05-16/17): 211 league non-penalty goals in 32 525 minutes =
0.58 goals per 90
Even when I was generous enough to remove penalties, Benzema is still coming up short against many other striker. Although he beats out Zlatan by by the slightest of margins.
Benzema is nowhere near close being a top 3 striker of his generation.
Yes, they certainly are going by their goalscoring production in their primes.
Benzema has been an undisputed starter during most of his prime, it's standard praxis to look at goals per game.
And? That's 100% on Benzema for not leaving Real Madrid & be the focal point elsewhere way sooner like Higuain did. Lewandowsi & Suarez are considered far superior than Benzema nonetheless and rightfully so despite they've been the main striker. Cavani, Kane, Higuain & Aguero are also better than Benzema.
Lewandowski has consistently made 20+ BuLi goals & had insane peak with 41 BuLi goals. He's levels above Benzema.
Almost everyone in their prime are clearly above Prime Benzema's level going by their goalscoring productivity.
Did you just say Benzema is as good as Prime Thierry Henry?
How can you put Suarez/Lewandowski above Benzema due to better goalscoring numbers, but not Kane/Aguero/Higuain/Cavani for same reason?
It's very contradicting from your side...
I'm not sure what's funny, Higuain was a fantastic striker in his prime (as I provided with stats). I still remember what Mourinho said about Benzema when they were both at Real, after Higuain got injured: "If I can't hunt with a dog, I will hunt with a cat. With a dog you hunt more and you hunt better. But if you have not got a dog and you have got a cat, you hunt with a cat."
Prime Suarez has made 25 UCL-goals in 62 games, including where made 5 UCL-goals in 30 games or went scoreless in 6 games last season.
It's very hypocritical you give Suarez a pass for his overwhelming bad UCL performances, but you're are holding Zlatan's UCL-perfomances against him.
If you say "Benzema > Zlatan" among best strikers in history due to UCL, then it's fair. But keep the same energy and start saying "Benzema > Suarez".
Benzema was always the main striker at Real Madrid with Cristiano playing as an left inside forward...
By your reasoning, do you also think Lewandowski & Suarez aren't better Benzema for scoring? I hope keep the same energy & say no to my question.
