On Tuesday evening, Karim Benzema saved Real Madrid again against Chelsea. His goal in extra time sent his team to the semi-finals of the Champions League. At the top of his game this season, he is one of the few favorites for the golden ball still competing in C1.
The 2021-2022 season really seems to be Karim Benzema’s season. The Frenchman carries Real Madrid on his shoulders and has scored a string of goals in both minor and major matches. His stats are insane with 38 goals in 38 games played in all competitions, including 12 in the Champions League alone. In the most prestigious European cups, KB9 has been running on water for a few weeks. He knocked out PSG with a hat-trick in the second leg before doing it again against Chelsea with a hat-trick in London and four goals in total over the two matches. Without him Real would not be in the semi-finals.
AS already awards Benzema Ballon d’Or 2022
These Champions League performances make Karim Benzema one or so not the favorite for the next Ballon d’Or. Because while the French striker carried his team all alone, his main competitors left the C1, which had left before the last four. For the Spanish newspaper AS, Benzema now has a boulevard in front of him for achieving the famous individual prize.
A new qualification at home, !
𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘪-𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴… 9️⃣🌟 #New #HalaMadrid #UCL #Alhamdulillah pic.twitter.com/GkKOlanGq8— Karim Benzema (@Benzema) Apr 12, 2022
† Real Madrid’s qualification to the semi-finals opens Benzema’s path to the ultimate individual award in football: the Ballon d’Or. The majority of his alleged rivals are out of the race: Messi and Mbappe fell for Real in the Bernabeu, with a hat-trick from Karim, Cristiano Ronaldo fell for Atlético, Haaland is out of the game… and the last to join the club is Robert Lewandowski, whose Bayern lost to Villarreal in the quarter-finals ‘, the newspaper elaborated. With a prize awarded at the end of the season and no longer at the end of the year, Benzema has also gained a certain ascendancy. However, the Frenchman still has serious opponents on the way. Liverpool and Manchester City indeed stand a good chance of reaching the C1 semi-finals with Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Kevin De Bruyne in their ranks. This could force Benzema to pull himself out of the big game again to be crowned and take Real Madrid to the roof of Europe.
