Karim Benzema finished the League as the second highest scorer of the tournament. With 21 goals, Zidane gave him the title in a last day without any chicha, against Leganés, to try an impossible: he needed to score four goals to equal Messi's 25. In eleven years at Madrid, Benzema has scored four hat-tricks (for Auxerre, Malmö, Rayo and Athletic); he never did poker, a task reserved for nine of those years for the Christian devourer.
Benzema left little or nothing in Leganés (just a shot out of the sticks) and Messi takes the Pichichi, little consolation for Barcelona who saw how the eternal rival raised the League after confinement. But the French striker for Real Madrid is relieved, with fewer goals, having weighed more on the successes of his team than the Argentine. His 21 goals meant more for Madrid than Messi's 25 for Barcelona, with the numbers in hand.
Eleven goals to the Top-10 of LaLiga
For starters, four of those goals went to top-5 teams in the table: two to Villarreal, one to Atlético and one to Sevilla. Another seven, to the teams in the section between sixth and tenth place. And the other ten, in the lower half of the table. That is, eleven goals to the ten best placed and ten to the ten that have suffered the worst fate in this championship. Valencia, with three goals, have been the team most punished by Benzema.
That proportion, in Messi, is opposite: only five goals to teams in the upper half of the table and 20 to those in the lower. Eibar, with five goals, and Mallorca, with four, have been the teams hardest hit by the Argentine, who from the upper zone have only scored two for Atleti and one for Sevilla. Benzema scored less, but distributed his goals more: he pierced the goals of 14 rivals; Messi, 12.
Benzema 16, Messi 11
Benzema's goals have not only damaged more dangerous rivals than Messi's; They have also meant more benefits for the Real Madrid points locker. Without Karim's goals, the white count would drop by 16 points; without Leo's, Barça's would fall to 11. Interestingly, both teams would be tied with 71 points. Benzema, in many ways, was the differential factor for Madrid on the way to lift the 34th league title.
It is clear that the absence of Cristiano has given Benzema a special weight in the attack of Real Madrid; Where before it was a reinforcement for the Portuguese, now it is the first white alternative. Last season, the first since Cristiano went to Juventus, Benzema's goals earned Madrid 14 points, something he had already achieved in 2015-16, then sharing a wardrobe with Madeira's genius. That was his most sown League: 24 goals.
In the rest of the seasons it was clear that Benzema's goals were only a support for the work that Cristiano was carrying out; in fact, the Portuguese especially respected Benzema for being a player who not only did not intrude on his numbers, but at many times was the enabler of them. In 2017-18, Karim's goals were worth four points; in 2016-17, five; in 2014-15, four; in 2013-14, nine; in 2012-13, six; in 2011-12, five; in 2010-11, eight; and in 2009-10, just two.