60 2GM Thursday August 6 2020 | the timesSportFootball
How Benzema became
Real's main manPercentage of Real's goals scored
by Benzema (all competitions)With Ronaldo as
a team-mate
(2009-2018)Since Ronaldo
left (2018-)Benzema
192Team
goals
1,378
Percentage by
Benzema 13.9%Benzema
56Team
goals
206
Percentage by
Benzema 27.2%Real Madrid’s top scorers
2019-20 (all competitions)Real Madrid’s top scorers of all timeK Benzema
S Ramos
Rodrygo
T Kroos
Casemiro
L Modric
V Júnior26
13
7
6
5
5
5
PS Gareth Bale has scored three
goals this season and Eden Hazard
has found the net just onceCristiano Ronaldo (2009-2018)Raúl (1994-2010)Alfredo Di Stéfano (1953-1964)Santillana (1971-1988)Karim Benzema (2009- )Ferenc Puskas (1958-1966)450323308290248242from his unveiling,
which drew barely a
quarter of the
75,000 fans who
had congregated
at the Bernabéu
to welcome
Ronaldo a month
earlier — he has had
to get used to being outshone by
brighter stars.
It is a status to which he has
acquiesced and adapted admirably. In
the classic Real team of the last
decade, it was Ronaldo and Bale who
snaffled the moments of glory, Toni
Kroos and Luka Modric who were
admired for their technical skill and
mastery of tempo, Sergio Ramos who
was worshipped as the club’s beating
heart. Benzema, who adjusted his
natural game to dovetail with
Ronaldo and Bale, was left with only a
meagre slice of the acclaim.
Perhaps there is also still a lingering
miasma from two unsavoury off-field
incidents. He was caught up in a case
involving an underage prostitute and,
a couple of years later, alleged to be
part of a plot to blackmail Mathieu
Valbuena, his France team-mate, over
a sex tape. In both cases the charges
were dropped, but the poisoning of
Benzema’s reputation was not so
quickly undone. Together, the
incidents probably ended Benzema’s
international career, which has been
permanently on hold since 2015,
depriving him of the opportunity to
be a defining player in the blue jersey
of France.
Strangely enough, it may be
that Benzema’s best chance
to be the defining player in
a successful team is now.
With Ronaldo and Bale
no longer in the
picture, it is clear that
he is Zidane’s most
trusted piece in attack.
He is a much better
symbol for the tenacious,
sometimes underestimated
team of Zidane’s second spell
than he was for the galactico
collection of his first.
Real have a difficult task in their
Champions League round-of-16 tie,
trailing Manchester City 2-1 from the
first leg at the Bernabéu, but City’s
defence has been vulnerable all
season and Real’s form post-lockdown
has been exceptional, winning 10 of 11
games to clinch the La Liga title,
finishing five points ahead of
Barcelona. Benzema will fancy his
chances of causing turmoil for Eric
García and Aymeric Laporte. Perhaps
this is his time to shine.Man City v
Real Madrid
Round of 16,
second leg
Tomorrow, 8pm
TV: BT Sport 1
Radio: BBC 5 Livewidespread
recognition of his
outstanding qualities. He
has periodically been
criticised, more often simply
ignored. But as Zidane said last
year: “The best Benzema has
been seen many more times
than you think.”
In truth, Benzema’s has been a
career that has never quite
emerged from the shadows.
From the moment of his arrival
at Real Madrid — indeed, rightnewspaper, dubbed him “the new
Nicolas Anelka”, a reference to
another French striker who had lasted
only one season at the Bernabéu.
Eleven years on Benzema is still
there, having outlasted Kaká and
Ronaldo, and he may just be better
than ever.
Messi is indisputably the best player
in La Liga but Benzema was arguably
the most influential this season. His
goals, 21 of them, won more points
than any other player’s. In the
vacuum left by Ronaldo’s departure
and Gareth Bale’s ostracism, the
Frenchman has carried Real Madrid’s
attack.
He also provided one of the most
sublime moments of the entire
season, an outrageous back-heeled
nutmeg assist for Casemiro against
Espanyol. Emilio Butragueño, the
legendary Real striker, called it “the
play of the season”. Francisco
Cabezas, writing in the Spanish
newspaper El Mundo, said: “If there’s
any reason to watch this strange
version of football, it’s for players like
Benzema.”
Zinédine Zidane, the Real manager,
even suggested Benzema would be a
worthy recipient of the Ballon d’Or
(which ultimately was not awarded
due to the coronavirus pandemic). It
feels like a moment of belated
stardom, which is odd for a player
who has won four Champions League
titles, 81 caps, and who this season
overtook Ferenc Puskas as Real
Madrid’s fifth-highest goalscorer.
But then, for all his achievements,
Benzema has never quite seemed to
belong to the conversation about the
best forwards of this generation. He
has been nominated for the Ballon
d’Or nine times, but has never
finished higher than 16th in the
voting. He has become regarded as an
elite player more by dint of simply
hanging around than through aSupport act Benzema
is Real’s leading
man at last
The 32-year-old is out of
Ronaldo’s shadow and
has become focal point
of Zidane’s attack, writes
James Gheerbrant
A
s the dust settles on the
extended domestic
seasons in Europe’s major
leagues, one lesson is
clear: the penalty box is no
country for young men. With the odd
exception such as Timo Werner, 24,
and Kylian Mbappé, 21, the top-scorer
charts are populated by players in the
closing act of their career, not the first
flush.
In Italy, the 30-year-old Lazio
striker Ciro Immobile held off
competition from the 35-year-old
Cristiano Ronaldo to win the golden
boot. The Bayern Munich centre
forward Robert Lewandowski, 31, had
a stunning campaign in the German
Bundesliga, striking 34 goals in 31
games. In England, it was also the
year of the old dog: Jamie Vardy, 33,
led the standings for the first time.
And in Spain, Lionel Messi, ageless at
33, was joined on the podium by a
striker who has been around for 15
years but still sometimes feels like a
forgotten man.
Karim Benzema, 32, first burst on to
the scene in the mid-2000s, in a
Lyons team that included Juninho
Pernambucano and Sylvain Wiltord.
Lilian Thuram was in the team when
Benzema made his France debut in- He arrived at Real Madrid two
years later, at the age of 21, in the
same summer as Kaká and Ronaldo,
but without the fanfare of those two
players.
During his underwhelming first
season Marca, the Spanish daily sport
2GM2G2GM2GM2GM2GM2GM 22222 2G2GM2GM2GM 222222222222 2GMGGGGMGGGMGMGGGGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGGMGMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMRback, is City’s second major signing for
next season, after the £20.9 million deal
for Valencia forward Ferran Torres.
City’s players stand to earn big
bonuses if they go on and win the
competition.Aké, 25, has signed a five-year deal at
City after joining from Bournemouthfitness. It is understood that his chances
of making the starting XI are 50-50.
Vinícius Júnior, the 20-year-old Brazil-
ian, is among the favourites to play
alongside Karim Benzema up front if
Hazard is not fit enough to start.
City, who last night confirmed the
singing of Nathan Aké, the Holland and
Bournemouth defender, for £41 million,
have their own injury problems. Sergio
Agüero, their star striker, has lost his
battle to be fit for the match.
Agüero, 32, hobbled off with a knee
injury in the win over Burnley in June.
The Argentina forward had hoped to
recover in time for the Madrid match,
but The Times understands that Agüero
is still undergoing rehabilitation in
Barcelona and will not play tomorrow.
City’s all-time top goal scorer has
been named in Pep Guardiola’s squad
for the knockout tournament in
Portugal, so could in theory play in the
final three rounds if City get past
Madrid.
Aké, the 25-year-old left-sided centreAgüero fails to recover for second leg
It is understood that top earners such
as Kevin De Bruyne have £1 million
bonuses written into their contracts.
Other squad members have lower
bonuses, but they still amount to
hundreds of thousands of pounds,
which underlines the club’s desire to lift
the famous trophy for the first time in
their history.
His team may be one goal down
following the first leg in February, but
Madrid midfielder and Brazilian inter-
national Casemiro is still in a confident
mood because there will be no fans
inside the stadium.
“Without fans it’s a different game,”
Casemiro told the Brazilian TV channel
Esporte Interativo.
“It will be a very good game and
difficult for both sides, but we’re Real
Madrid and we know we have a chance
to go through.
“They won’t have their fans and that
might favour us a little.
“But the players are the same, the
coach is the same and we all know that
the difficulty level will be the same
because they’re a great team.”under consideration and it is believed
that a government exemption will en-
able the elite runners to come into
London on the understanding that they
follow strict Covid-19 protocols.
Kipchoge, the 35-year-old world-
record holder, and Bekele, 38, have
recorded the two fastest times in mara-
thon history and sources have said that
they remain keen to compete, not least
because the global epidemic has denied
them the opportunity to race and earn
any income. It also helps event organis-
ers that, despite one athlete being
Kenyan and the other Ethiopian, they
are represented by the same agent.
However, a further postponement of
the mass-participation race would be a
crushing blow for the amateur runners
who have been training hard, often in
the hope of raising money for charity.
Since 1981 the race has raised more
than £1 billion for charity and runnersLondon Marathon may be
postponed until next year
may be invited to run their own mara-
thon locally on the same morning of
the race. That said, it is also likely they
will be able to keep their place for when
it is possible to stage the race again in
London. Last month the Great North
Run organisers had to postpone the
40th edition of their race, which was
due to take place on September 13 with
60,000 runners, until next year.
London Marathon race director
Hugh Brasher told entrants last month
he would update them by August 7.
In a statement he said: “I realise that
this uncertainty is far from ideal and I
would like to thank you for your
patience and understanding.
“We know how important the Virgin
Money London Marathon is to you, to
charities and in showing the world the
wonderful spirit of London ... and of our
running community. So please bear
with us while we finish the extensive
work we have been doing to try to
enable us to run together, safely.”continued from back
continued from back