Prolific striker Karim Benzema, who scored 44 goals in 46 games for Real Madrid last season, has been considered the favourite to win this year's Ballon d'Or. Read on to know what the Frenchman had to say about his chances of winning the coveted trophy.
Real Madrid's Karim Benzema was the hero, scoring twice in stoppage time to give the Los Blancos a 3-1 victory on Sunday at Espanyol in the 88th and 89th minutes, respectively. The 34-year-old striker is expected to continue this prolific run and win laurels after bagging the UEFA men's player of the year award. The Ballon d'Or is likely to follow in October before the Frenchman heads to Qatar for the World Cup 2022, intending to complete a truly remarkable career renaissance.
Benzema, who turns 35 the day after the World Cup final in December, was once a pariah barred from the France team for five and a half years due to his role in a blackmail issue involving a sex tape involving his former teammate Mathieu Valbuena. The Lyon native was found guilty late last year and received a 75,000 euro fine in addition to a one-year suspended prison sentence. He chose not to appeal his conviction in June because he wanted to move on and keep the attention on football.
Last season, Benzema scored an incredible 44 goals in 46 games for Real Madrid, including 27 in La Liga, finishing the year as the league's leading scorer by a wide margin. However, he was at his best in the Champions League, where he also led the league in scoring with 15 goals in just 12 games played. Carlo Ancelotti's team scored five goals in the group stage, with Benzema wearing the captain's armband, but the best goals came in the knockout stages.
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In the dramatic comeback triumph over Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in the round of 16, Benzema scored a magnificent hat-trick in 17 minutes of the second half. The Frenchman added another goal away to Chelsea in the first leg of the quarterfinal. The talisman scored three more goals throughout both legs of the semifinal against Manchester City, including an extra-time penalty kick in the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu that guaranteed Real Madrid's place in the championship game. It was also his extra-time goal in the return leg of that match that prevented a Chelsea comeback.
With Vinicius Junior scoring the lone goal in Real Madrid's final against Liverpool at Stade de France and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois playing brilliantly at the other end, he did not stand out during the actual championship game. Although Courtois and Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City were nominated for the UEFA award, the winner was almost certainly going to be Benzema.
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Next, Benzema would be aiming to bag the Ballon d'Or before turning his attention to the World Cup, which he could not win with France in 2018 due to his protracted international exile. Speaking to L’Équipe's channel in the wake of the Champions League group stage draw and his UEFA Men's Player of the Year award win, Karim Benzema notably spoke about his Ballon d'Or hopes for this year.
"We'll see what happens. We'll wait for the votes to come in. It's been a dream since I was little. I'm not too far away now. We'll see what happens," the Real Madrid captain stated. The Ballon d'Or ceremony will be held on October 17 at Paris’ Théâtre du Châtelet. The final 30-man shortlist was revealed earlier this month, with Paris Saint-Germain's Lionel Messi missing out.
Three compatriots join Benzema for Ballon d'Or glory i.e. Christopher Nkunku, Kylian Mbappe, and Mike Maignan. The PSG star is also the sole representative from Ligue 1, with Brazilian forward Neymar and Gianluigi Donnarumma dropping out from last year's list. Nuno Mendes has been nominated for the Kopa Trophy.