Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has become the favorite candidate to win the 2022 Ballon d’Or, about 13 years after the Frenchman arrived in the Spanish capital in 2009, coming from the French club Lyon and costing the Real treasury 35 million euros, in addition to sponsoring his transportation back and forth by private plane from Madrid to Lyon.
In 2009, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez predicted that Benzema, now 34, would become the best player in the world at some point in his career, which the French player proved correct.
Benzema scored 320 goals in 600 matches with Los Blancos, during which he won 20 titles, and became the undisputed captain of the team after living under Cristiano Ronaldo for a decade.
Benzema is competing in the race for the Golden Ball award, with players such as Belgian Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), French Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain), Egyptian Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), and Poland’s Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich).
If the captain of the Royal Club wins the Golden Ball, this will lead to the activation of a clause in his contract that gives him a huge reward, pending the renewal of his contract with the Real Madrid, which ends in 2023, which depends on how his body responds in the next few months, based on the talks that took place between the two parties, recently.
Real Madrid believes that it would be fair for Benzema to win the Ballon d’Or, the prestigious award that the Frenchman never reached the podium with, as he finished fourth in the last edition behind Lionel Messi, Lewandowski and Italian Jorginho.
Real Madrid is one point away from winning the “La Liga” title, which may be achieved at the end of the week, four days before it faces Manchester City in the Champions League semi-final second leg.
Benzema remains the top scorer in “La Liga” this season with 25 goals, as well as the top scorer in the Champions League with 14 goals. In total, he has scored more than 40 goals and 13 assists in all competitions so far this season.
Benzema became the first player to score 40 goals for Real Madrid in one season since Ronaldo’s departure, and he is also the first player to score 25 goals and make more than 10 goals in one season in La Liga since the departure of Argentine Lionel Messi.
ENTV 29/04/2022
