How can one go from being booed by his fans to becoming one of their most loved assets? Karim Benzema was, the best striker in the world had all the bad periods of his career cast aside and has risen to the stature of a Real Madrid great.
Karim Benzema who until a few years ago was constantly under criticism for his underperformance in Real Madrid, Fans went out so far that people started speculating that his Real Madrid starting 11 position might be just because of his excellent relationship with Zidane.
From 2015 to 2018 Benzema was under constant pressure of performance from fans and media to an extent that certain sections of the Real Madrid fanbase even called him a Liability. and calls for Benzema out were growing louder.
Fans were not at all happy with Karim Benzema, especially during the 2018 La Liga fixtures where he was missing simple chances in front of goal.
The sex tape blackmail scandal involving his teammate Valbuena back in 2015 didn't help at all, Karim Benzema was at an all-time low at this point of his career. He was immediately banished from the French National team for more than 6 years he lost out on competitions like Euro Cup and the 2018 World cup.
very few people might have known the importance of Karim Benzema in that Real Madrid team, he was the one making sacrifices for their main man Cristiano Ronaldo, drifting in wide towards the flanks and letting Cristiano drift towards that lethal centre-forward position.
The biggest blessing in disguise came into Benzema's career when Cristiano Ronaldo announced his departure from Real Madrid to Juventus for a fee of €100 Million in 2018.
It triggered Benzema to take that central role and realize his actual potential.
Even though after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018 it wasn't a cakewalk for Benzema to become the central player of the team, It was Gareth Bale who was speculated to be the main leading role in front of goal after the departure of Ronaldo.
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Bale's heroic performance in the Champions League Final against Liverpool was enough to convince Florentino Perez about the quality he possessed for being the top man.
But it didn't quite work well as it turned out to be the same old injured Bale after the start of the new season.
After having a horrible season in 2019, Real Madrid looked into the market for a new attacker, a big-money signing came in 2019 in the form of Eden Hazard. After a blistering season with Chelsea Hazard made a switch to the Madrid capital.
But even Hazard's involvement in the capital wasn't enough as he became an injury-prone player and a shell of his former self.
It was right during this 2020 season Benzema rose to extraordinary heights, with Vinicius alongside him, the duo started performing in a very synchronizing manner.
Real Madrid won the La Liga title that year, which was an amazing accomplishment for a team that had a very important figure just a year before and the team was somewhat in experimenting form given that Vinicius starting was not fixed especially after the coming of Eden Hazard.
The 2021 season was the one for making for Benzema, even though Real Madrid failed to win any significant trophy that season but it clearly showed that Benzema was the man to lead the team after Ronaldo, and the doubt was clear in the minds of fans that why Benzema was so important for Real Madrid.
He scored 42 goals in all competitions registering 9 assists, his crucial goals came in against the likes of Chelsea, PSG and Manchester City.
His good performance in 2021 earned him the national team call-up, His call-up for the French team in mid-2021 was a signal that all wasn't over for Benzema.
He formed a deadly partnership with Kylian Mbappe in the front scoring goals, and assisting each other for the national team. He won the UEFA conference league with France scoring a stunner in the final earning the team a comeback win.
At the club level, he formed a deadly duo with Vinicius who wholeheartedly looked for Benzema for support even saying in an interview that Benzema was the best player for him because he helped him so much on the pitch.
One of the main reasons why Benzema was so deadly and became an unstoppable striker in 2022 was because he had put much effort into losing weight, A significant amount of weight loss can be noted in Benzema back in 2022 as compared to 2018 or 2019.
This was also mentioned by Arsene Wegner, when he also confirmed "Benzema became unstoppable once he started loosing weight"
Nevertheless, after coming out of Cristiano's shadow, he saw a chance for him to shine, the opportunity came in and he embraced it with open arms. Karim has announced himself in the most badest and heartwarming way for the fans in Santiago Bernabeu, who were the same fans who used to shout for his dismissal from the team and chant his name.
Karim Benzema has now moved on to his other adventure as he sealed a deal with Saudi Arabian Club Al-Ettihad. Karim Benzema had been swift to decide on his transfer. he has been very crucial for Real Madrid all these years and leaving a main starting spot for the team means there might be a chance for the youngsters to take this chance and be starters at Real Madrid.
At Ittihad, however, the Frenchman has had a troublesome career, with constant fights with his manager Nuno, Karim sees himself nowhere in his former self.
He had been desperate to return to Europe, In an recent interview he did come out honestly and spoke about how everything was set at Real Madrid and he was better playing in the system created by Real Madrid.
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