Benzema, total attacker

The soccer maturity of Benzema adds a new chapter, this time statistical, because in the derby alone he achieved the record of matches (528, one more than Roberto Carlos) of a foreign footballer in the history of Real Madrid. Major words that evoke, worth the redundancy, major words of one of its great supporters, Zinedine Zidane. “What he's doing is tremendous”Zizou himself warned last night on RealMadridTV in connection with this feat of his compatriot. “Karim has been in for many years, many goals, a lot of football and I am happy for him. He is a boy who has always shown that he is good on the field. It is what he is showing to everyone. Not only here at this club.” A row of praises that ended with a final pearl: “All the people who want or like football, like Karim”.

Zidane has been in the Team Benzema From day one, the hard message he sent to Lineker three seasons ago for criticizing the bearer of Madrid's number 9 is still remembered and he has always been drenched in the eternal debate of whether his pupil is a nine or not. “It's pure football”, is Zidane's answer. “Karim is spoken of as a pure nine, a nine and a half, a ten … For me he is a bit of everything. I would define him as a total soccer player”.

He does not think of finding him a substitute

A total attacker who is, right now, essential in a Madrid where Mariano and Jovic do not count except when injuries tighten. “For a team it is fundamental, Karim associates himself when he has to associate and scores goals”, is the analysis of a Zizou who lets fall who his center forward is at least until 2022, the date on which the Franco-Algerian striker ends his contract in Chamartín: “I would never remove a player like Benzema from my team”. A date, two years from now, that is not final: a renewal for another year is more than presumable given the enormous care taken by the forward of his physique.

The numbers end up proving Zidane and Benzema right or, at least, they substantiate the debate because the goal is practically around every two games. Has done 257 goals in his 528 games. Average 0.48 per game. Very far from Cristiano's records (1.02) as a Madrid player but he is still a piece that increases his value in the Champions League, his favorite competition. There is that brilliant head double (the first in almost four years by a Madrid player) with which he destroyed Borussia Mönchengladbach. One luck, that of the header, which has been refining in recent years. To get closer, perhaps, to that ideal of a total attacker with which he looks at him Zidane, mentor and shield …