Karim Benzema has been sporting claws for a long time, but they are even sharper than they might appear. Since Cristiano Ronaldo packed his bags and left them parked in Turin in 2018, the Frenchman has donned the goal suit. The Lion has scored 74 goals, in addition to having distributed 27 assists. Some numbers that are not far from the 88 and 21 that the Portuguese star has achieved in Juve. However, '7' has an advantage over '9', penalties. If we 'erase' them from the statistical sheet, the balance falls on the Madridista's side: 66 to 61.
CR7 He has scored 27 of the 31 he has released in these two and a half seasons What bianconero. KB9, meanwhile, wears an immaculate 8 of 8. When the referee signals the fatal point, if Sergio Ramos is on the field of play, the responsibility lies with the camero. Nobody disputes him, however, because since that summer of 2018, he has not failed from 11 meters with the Madrid shirt (he did with the Red shirt): 17 of 17. Of course, he has not done it either a Karim who has taken responsibility 29.6% of the time, for Cristiano's 79.5. Speculating, if both players had thrown the same percentage of times, Lyon's would have had 13 more penalties to increase their numbers …
Collectively, they sure miss the symbiotic relationship they enjoyed during the nine seasons they shared a dressing room, but individually their numbers impress. And it is not a question of devaluing a Ronaldo whose history is too small, if not to value the devastating statistic of a nine that the label of ten has weighed for a long time. The cat, when necessary, has become a tiger without abandoning that creative aroma that has accompanied it since its emergence in the elite. “What is a 9? What is a 10? I think I am a player who has a bit of everything”, said Karim himself in 'Universo Valdano' last October.
If Madrid used to be Cristiano, now it is Benzema. Of the 54 goals scored by the Whites this season, 17 are signed by their center forward, 31.5%. A figure that indicates that the Frenchman's year counter seems broken, as it is the longest of his entire career in this regard, ahead of 2018-19 (30 out of 101, 30 percent). That is, the first without a Ronaldo who, in ZIdane's first Madrid, scored 28 percent of the goals. Like a good Rioja, both the one and the other gain flavor with age.
Best average
Likewise, that 66-61 for Karim, which echoed on Twitter David de la Peña, has another aspect that, at first, seems to lean in favor of the now star of the Vecchia Signora, that of the games and minutes played. The Frenchman has played 134 matches during this impasse temporary, for the 116 of his former partner, in which they have played 10,672 and 10,007 minutes respectively. However, following the same premise set out above of avoiding the maximum penalties, Benzema throws a better average, since he scores a goal every 161.7 minutes, for the 164 that Cristiano needs.
Personal challenges
Almost traced numbers that the aforementioned penalties separate and turn in favor of the top scorer in football history, who overall he celebrates a goal every 113.7 minutes, compared to the 144.2 required by his rival of this particular duel. And it is that, yes Benzema fights to get his first top scorer (with 12, he has Luis Suárez at four distance), that scorer recognition whose notch would bet even greater packaging on the number he wears; Cristiano seeks his first capocannoniere. A Serie A top scorer title that Quagliarella stole from Juve in his first season and Immobile in his second. Now, he marches first with Lukaku, thanks to his 16 goals. Two of the great scorers of recent times who have had to learn to live without each other. A loneliness that has not done them badly …