Zidane got wet at Ricardo Sierra's question about whether Benzema is the best striker out there today. “Karim is the best,” Zizou agreed. In France the phrase quickly spread and France Football conveys the question to its readers. “Is Benzema the best forward of the year?” In the neighboring country, where the Real Madrid forward continues to be material for almost continuous debate, they consider that it is and overwhelmingly. 78 percent of Internet users who voted in the poll of the prestigious French magazine believe that Benzema has been the best attacker of the year.
A popular sentiment more than relevant just in the year in which France Football gave up choosing an individual Ballon d'Or because of how the pandemic altered both national and European competitions and even the postponement of the Eurocup, a factor of great weight in the final choice. A postponement that could harm Benzema, who was indispensable in the 2019-20 white League and in this 2020 stretch of the 2020-21 campaign has contributed decisively so that Madrid have passed to the round of 16 as group winners for the first time under the command of Zidane (there is his double against Mönchengladbach at Di Stéfano and also his goal in Germany) and the top scorer fights, a single goal from txuri-urdin Oyarzabal.
Benzema gets a certain recognition in his country although his chapter in the French team seems dead and buried. The dialectical pique between Le Graet, president of the Federation, and Karim himself, apparently has no turning back (“I ask you to forget me and leave me alone,” the forward tweeted) and Deschamps is also against his return and more so when he can have Mbappé, Griezmann and Giroud, among others.