Karim Benzema celebrating his goal in the 2018 UEFA Champions League final. Real win the game 3-1 yo win their straight European Cup.
By Joao Cunha
Karim Benzema is Real Madrid’s number 9 for the last 8 seasons. With that comes the weight of responsibility of not only playing well but scoring lots of goals. Despite the fact he’s done both there’s a segment of Real fans who love to dismiss him at every opportunity. He is a striker who doesn’t score enough goals in their eyes. He doesn’t perform in big games they complain. Except they are wrong on both counts. He can score in big games see his remarkable Champions League record. He scores plenty of goals AND he’s not really a traditional number 9. His position is more of a 9.5 an in between position between a central striker and playmaker. Benzema actually functions in both roles. But to pit it best he’s a second-striker a position which is increasingly rare in the modern game.
Since Mou’s Chelsea the 4-2-3-1 became a very popular formation. The consequence was the death of the strike partnership. Before you had to he likes of Raul-Morientes, Cole-Yorke, Bergkamp-Henry. After this change only one striker was traditionally played (Drogba, Van Nisterooy, Eto’o, Klose, Ibra) until the Pep revolution at Barca made the 4-3-3 popular. What Pep’s tactical innovation did was the beginning of the modern-day front 3. (Henry, Messi, Eto’o in 2009, then Villa, Pedro, Messi in 2011) This interchangeable front 3 dominated Europe for years. And teams that did well tended to only have 1 central striker (Inter Milan with Milito, Chelsea with Drogba were the sides to end Barca’s run). As a result there was no need for a second striker, you needed a striker that could both score goals and create for others. The striker had to have the ability to play out wide from time to time to create space. Second strikers in the classic sense didn’t do this effectively enough. As either they couldn’t be out wide or they couldn’t score or create at a high enough level. It’s no surprise that the likes of Emile Heskey began to be phased out by 2010. They just weren’t effective anymore. But Karim Benzema was the perfect player for this new era.
Benzema could play with other players. He doesn’t need to score to be effective or to impact the game at a high level. He can also play out wide and create space for wide players to operate. He can mark defensive-midfielders, center-backs and cut off passing lanes. (The CL final in 2018 was a great example of this). Benzema can also pass superbly well and he not only gets assists but crucially is the player who breaks down defenses. At Real Madrid he often is the initiatior of attacks against more tight defenses. He can break the press very well as he has a great first touch and passes the ball accurately as the CL final vs Liverpool demonstrated. Finally his awareness of space in the area created space for others. The first goal that Ronaldo scored at Juve earlier this year was created by Benzema occupying space and taking defenders with him. Something that he is rarely given credit for. Benzema’s best attributes are not seen because they are unselfish dirty work. But Benzema is very similar to one player from a historical perspective and he was a Madridista too.
Player A:
Games played: 413
Goals scored: 192
Goals per game average: 0.44
Goals scored in the Champions League/Europe: 44
Goals scored in La Liga: 127
Trophies won: 16
7th highest goal scorer in Real Madrid’s history.
Player B:
Games played: 463
Goals scored: 171
Goals per game average: 0.37
Champions League/European goals scored: 27
La Liga goals: 123
Trophies won: 15
10th highest scorer in Real Madrid’s history.
Both of these players are legends at Real. Yet one is idolized by fans and the other is questioned. Player A is Karim Benzema and Player B is Emilio Butragueno. Why is there such a discrepancy to their status. One of them was the leader of a great La Fabrica side who dominated Spain for half a decade. The other is behind the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo arguably the greatest player in Real’s history, so it’s easy to see how Benz is undervalued. But Buitre lile Benzema had to supplement a goal scorer in his case it was Hugo Sanchez. Hugo Sanchez was the most decisive player at Real and they didn’t win a league title until he arrived. Sanchez like Ronaldo benefited massively from the unselfishness of his strike partner. The way both Buitre and Benzema play is to benefit the team first and then themselves. They can score when necessary but they want to pass if there’s a better option. Both can be decisive in big ganes with Benzema excelling in the champions league and in calicos, while Butragueno was pivotal in league games and UEFA Cup remontadas. Inspite if the fact they aren’t the main goalsvirers they are both in the top-10 goalscoring lists at Real. The technical ability of both players is lauded. Both Benzema and Buitre had memorable assists. They are both Real legends and Benzema plays in a front 3 a similar role Butragueno played in a front 2.
They both sacrifice goals for the team’s glory but Benzema has been at times unfairly maligned fir his lack of goals.
Benzema hasn’t scored as many goals in the last 2 seasons and he has been crushed for it. But that is not all his fault as he becomes older he will become more of a playmaker than a pure forward. To function in the 4-3-3 he had to supply Ronaldo and Bale as well as score. But the last 2 years the 4-4-2 was used more which forced Benzema to sacrifice more goals to set up Ronaldo. Although the team could operate more freely but his goal scoring form suffered as he had to do the traditional roles of a second striker. Although he is well suited to do that it meant he had to play deeper to creatw attacks instead of getting the ball further forward. Since Ronaldo was never going to do that work, it was Benzema’s duty to do that. This is not to say that his finishing wasn’t awful of course it was. He scored only 11 goals last season including a stunningly low 5 La Liga goals. However this does not diminish the impact Benzema still has in big games. In the Champions League semi-finals when Ronaldo was marked out of the game, it was Benzema who scored twice to push Real to the final. One of the goals was him pressing the keeper and Ulreivh making a mistake due to his pressing. His dirty work created the second goal. In the final his flick after Karius’s error allowed Madrid to open the scoring in Kiev. He was a big part ofvReal’s CL dynasty scoring massive goals and the assists Real needed. The most notable moment came in the second leg against Atletico in 2017. Real we’re down 2-0 and we’re in danger of collapsing until Benzema juked past 3 defenders passed it to Kroos whose shot was saved only for Isco to score a decisive away goal. That moment of genius settled the tie and Benzema didn’t score or even get an assist. He created something out of nothing. He is an artist like Bergkamp, and Butragueno were. His ability to create for others is invaluable. They don’t create many strikers like him anymore, Firmino abd Fekir are the closest comparisons. They are more like than Benzema but they aren’t better players than Benz was at his peak or as accomplished as he is now. What Benzema gives Real is hard to measure and will be appreciated fully once he leaves. Real fans should enjoy Benzema while he ladts because he is a rare type of plahee. A modern striker who is unselfish and decisive, a man who survived the critics and loved the club. A player who is also a throwback to a bygone era, an artistic player not just a finisherX one who is still effective today. Karim Benzema is a Real Madrid legend and he should be appreciated not derided for lasting 10 seasons at the Bernabeu. As Zidane said, “If you don’t understand Benzema, you don’t understand football”
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