Karim Benzema is a footballer of his time. He has dreamed of the Ballon d'Or since he was a child. At 34 years old, the Real Madrid striker has finally put his hands on the object of desire, which he was awarded with great pomp during a ceremony at the Châtelet Theater in Paris, Monday, October 17. While others have already begun an inexorable decline at the same age, the Frenchman is currently at the pinnacle of his art. Never has he been so strong, so decisive as in his 18th professional season. In the Champions League, he led his team to the title earlier this year. It was his fifth, but this one bears his signature, having scored 15 goals.
Throughout his troubled career, Benzema has embodied the refusal to accept defeat, even when his team was (often) destined for it. With him, the Ballon d'Or has ended up once again on a striker's mantelpiece, but his victory marks a break from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who have privatized the award since 2008 (with the exception of Luka Modric in 2018) in a long duel of ego and statistics.
Karim Benzema is instead a great oxymoron: an altruistic striker. He has sometimes been criticized for his lack of individualism, but, like a good thurifer, Argentinian pundit Omar da Fonseca has highlighted his rarity. "Karim knows how to do everything. He is a complete player and of such complexity. He doesn't need to be obsessed with scoring or being an icon. He seduces and convinces with his football. He is the opposite of the smoky salesman, the player who overplays," praised the commentator, a La Liga specialist. "He plays in a suave, tuxedo and shiny shoes style. He can be at the start of the action, in the middle of the action and at its conclusion."Two careers
The striker embodies a certain French tradition, like previous Ballon d'Or winners. With the exception of Jean-Pierre Papin, a cartoonish and instinctive striker (1991), the likes of Raymond Kopa (1958), Michel Platini (1983, 1984 and 1985) and Zinedine Zidane (1998) were creators and sensitive playmakers.
The native of Bron, a town in the Lyon metropolitan area, described his football philosophy in an interview given to France Football in 2019: "The day I only see football through statistics, I think I'll stop, because I will have lost that thing in me since I was a kid." He has played for Real Madrid since 2009 – an eternity in modern football – where he has had two careers: the first in the service of Cristiano Ronaldo and the second, from 2018. With the Portuguese player's departure, Benzema went from being a luxurious teammate to donning the boss's clothes.
Alongside CR7 for eight years, Benzema filled his trophy cabinet (four Champions Leagues, two Ligas and two national cups). Exiled to Spain at the age of 21, the former Lyon striker had to deal with competition from Gonzalo Higuain, Alvaro Morata and Emmanuel Adebayor. Benzema pushed them to the bench, adored by a Ronaldo who knew only too well that Benzema's style of play suited him perfectly.
While everyone feared that Real would collapse with the departure of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner, Benzema carried the team on his shoulders, which have grown wider. Although he doesn't look at stats, others do it for him. He is the third most successful player in the history of the Spanish club, with 23 trophies, close to Marcelo's 25. He is also the second-best scorer in the history of Real Madrid, with 327 goals, behind Ronaldo (450 goals). And he has the most assists, better than the Portuguese player (160 against 132).
'He understood that talent was not enough'
But when the kid from the Lyon suburbs left his first club in 2009, with the title of best player and top scorer in 2007/2008 Ligue 1 season, the challenge seemed immense. Real had crushed other talents before and after him. One of his trainers, Armand Garrido, ex-coach of the U17s, was concerned. "When he left, I said, 'He's completely crazy. He's going to get eaten. It's too soon.'" The facts proved him wrong: "He adapted. It took him a while, but the hardships made him grow up. Ronaldo took all the attention and image of Real on himself. It allowed him to learn, watch and progress."
Defender Sebastien Squillaci was a member of Lyon's ultra-dominant team for two seasons in the 2000s and witnessed the phenomenon's emergence. "He didn't make much noise in the dressing room. I was impressed by his maturity on the pitch, the way he felt the calls. He understood football," the Corsican said. "We didn't feel any particular pressure."
In training, the rugged Squillaci even used his strong play to stop the talented teenager, who was unstoppable in one-on-one drills: "He was impressive on body feints and stepovers. We were in a lot of pain." The 21-cap international still saw some areas for improvement, with "average heading" and "in impact."
The product was not quite finished, especially physically. His coaches wondered whether a diet might be necessary. The clumsy boy became an athlete. He had learned a lot from Ronaldo, a physical maniac and a model of professionalism. In an ultra-competitive environment, Benzema understood little by little that he would have to redouble his efforts. Before he turned 16, the apprentice footballer had barely made it through the ruthless annual selection process at the OL training center. "Something clicked when he wasn't selected for an important tournament," said Rémy Riou, Lyon's substitute goalkeeper, who started with him at the age of 8. "The following season, he completely exploded. In six months to one year, he went professional. He understood that talent wasn't enough."
'Like good wine'
Bernard Lacombe, a former striker and right-hand man to club president Jean-Michel Aulas, was quickly charmed: "I asked his coach, Armand Garrido: 'Who is this kid? We're going to have a great footballer.'" Garrido remembered the speech he gave him: "You have talent, but you make three runs per game. I don't want three, I want 15." "He improved his talent every year. It is like good wine – the more time passes, the better it is."
The message was received loud and clear. The nonchalant young player turned into a workaholic. He got a lot of work done. "The training sessions increased, as did his commitment. We used to work for 45 minutes together in front of the goal," said the coach. Benzema continued to demand sessions from his friend, goalkeeper Rémy Riou, with this reasoning: "It's not for nothing that the old ones [the OL players of the time], are at top European level."
Even at Real, Benzema did not abandon this stakhanovism from his young years. His sidelining from the French national team, between 2015 and 2022, sheltered him from the cadence of international football. With a sports coach in the suburbs of Lyon, he took the opportunity to continue to shape his body and improve his head game, for example, thanks to work on his abdominal muscles. "There is no secret to succeeding at this age – you can't leave anything to chance," said Squillaci.
Garrido believes he has pinpointed his former protégé's motivation. "Karim is football and nothing but football. He is inhabited by the love of football," said his former coach. Before being celebrated as a soloist, Benzema would have gladly traded a possible Ballon d'Or for a World Cup. He was absent in 2018, he could have the best of both worlds if he triumphs with Les Bleus in Qatar in December.
