Benzema's year

Karim Benzema (33 years old) maintains his condition as Madrid's offensive leader in the final month of 2020: there are 23 points in the calendar year (12 this year and 11 last). Six of those targets have been in the team's last six consecutive victories. One goal per game on average. Pull the car in the most difficult moments.

The Frenchman has assumed Cristiano's scoring role in Madrid, although he still needs one more step to put on the Portuguese suit: to be top scorer in LaLiga. Last season he stayed close (21 goals, four from Messi) and fought it until the last days. This season he comes to Christmas as first in that classification with eight goals, the same as Iago Aspas (Celta) and Gerard Moreno (Villarreal). They are tied, but the Madrid player's merit is greater, because he is the only one who has not scored any penalty goals. Gerard has done from eleven meters four (half of which he has) and Aspas three.

He was always haunted by the shadow of a certain lack of goal and his influence on the game was praised. Now nobody disputes his nose, although that has not caused him to keep his contribution in all the other records. Of the 27 goals that Madrid has in LaLiga, the Frenchman has intervened in the play of 17 of them (according to Opta data). In eight he was the scorer, another five times he gave the final pass and in the remaining four he participated in the making of it. That means that it is present in 63% of the team's goals.

Numbers. Benzema jumped after Cristiano's departure: he scored 21 goals per season in the league. Thus he buried the doubts after the five he made in the last Portuguese campaign (his worst mark since landing at Real Madrid in the 2009-10 academic year).

He is in the numbers of his best league seasons at this point, because only last season (ten) he had more goals. Three other times (2015-16, 2014-15 and 2013-14) he had eight goals after playing 15 rounds. In one of them, 2015-16, he achieved his best mark in the league with Madrid: 24 goals. However, on that occasion he was very far from the top scorer (Luis Suárez scored 40 goals for Barcelona) and it didn't even serve him to be the best scorer for the white team (Cristiano scored 35). Also Messi (26) surpassed him. Now he does not have the ‘competition’ of Cristiano and Messi is far from his best numbers. It is his moment to face a new challenge: the top scorer.