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Big favorite for the Ballon d’Or 2022, Real Madrid’s French striker Karim Benzema won football’s most prestigious individual award on Monday. Author of a stratospheric season, both individually and collectively, “KB9” became the fifth Frenchman in history to win this trophy, 24 years after Zinedine Zidane.
From banished to the top of world football. Frenchman Karim Benzema won the Ballon d’Or on Monday, October 17, the most prestigious individual award in football, crowning an exceptional season on all fronts.
By being crowned, “KB9” became the fifth Frenchman to win the supreme award for a football player. He succeeds a certain Zinedine Zidane, who won the Ballon d’Or… on December 21, 1998, 24 years ago. It was the French legend who presented the trophy to Karim Benzema. Before the “Z”, Raymond Kopa (1958), Michel Platini (1983, 1984 and 1985) and Jean-Pierre Papin (1991) had also won the Ballon d’Or.
“To see (this trophy) in front of me is a source of pride. I think back to when I was little, all the work, I never gave up. It’s a childhood dream, I grew up with it in the head,” Benzema said as he received his award, a thick beard and thin glasses, dressed in a dark suit and a white shirt with a black collar inspired by an outfit of his idol, rapper Tupac Shakur.
“This Ballon d’Or is individual, but it remains collective, it’s the people’s Ballon d’Or”, he added, applauded by the public who chanted his first name, before being joined on stage by his son Ibrahim (5 years old).
Named eleven times since 2008 in the list of candidates for the Ballon d’Or, Karim Benzema “casually returns the impression of indisputable legitimacy over time”, noted L’Équipe before the ceremony.
Most prolific season of his career
Asked by the organizers before the trophy presentation on the qualities required to be Ballon d’Or, Karim Benzema replied: “He is someone who shows something other than football over a season, who shows class gestures, makes turnarounds when a team is not well.” And to add: “It has to be regular, and in matches where it’s complicated. There are matches where you say to yourself: ‘Today is the time to do something, to take decisions because physically and mentally, I’m ready.'”
This definition of the ideal candidate for the ultimate trophy looks exactly like… the season of “KB9”. The Real Madrid striker thrilled football fans throughout last season, especially during the final phase matches: in the round of 16 against PSG (treble which qualified his team), in the quarter-finals against Chelsea ( hat-trick in the first leg, a decisive goal in the second leg) and in the semi-final against Manchester City (two goals in the first leg, a decisive goal in the return).
With ten goals scored in six games in high-stakes matches, Karim Benzema was undoubtedly a great architect of Real Madrid’s brilliant run in the Champions League – punctuated by a victory (0-1) against Liverpool in the final.
‘KB9’ finally scored 15 goals in 12 matches across European competition, to which are added his 27 goals scored (and 12 assists) in 32 La Liga appearances – which again makes him a major actor of his club for the conquest of the title of champion of Spain. To close the table, he also scored two goals in two Spanish Super Cup matches. With some 44 goals in 46 games, Karim Benzema has had the most prolific season of his career, at a high level in terms of statistics and consistency in decisive moments.
The French striker also participated in the triumphant campaign of the Blues, who won the League of Nations against Spain (2-1) in October 2021. One more trophy won with his national team, which could play in its favor when the Ballon d’Or winner is announced on Monday night.
Regular at very high level
Before the award was given on Monday, one sign was clear about his chances of winning the Ballon d’Or: Karim Benzema was named UEFA best player of the year on August 25.
Despite a career whose image has been tarnished for years by “the Valbuena sextape affair”, Karim Benzema decided in June to give up appealing in the lawsuit against his ex-teammate. He thus ratified his one-year suspended prison sentence for “complicity in attempted blackmail”, to definitively turn this extra-sporting page.
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Away from his past demons (whether it be his judicial conviction or his estrangement from the France team for years), “KB9” is at 34 a fulfilled player at the peak of his sports career. He had already been performing for several seasons (25 goals in 44 matches in 2018-2019, 26 goals in 45 matches in 2019-2020 and 29 goals in 44 matches in 2020-2021) before completing an exceptional year in 2021-2022.
Zinedine Zidane, when he was still Real Madrid coach, was full of praise for Karim Benzema when he was asked, in December 2020, if he was the best French center forward in history: “For me, yes, it’s very clear. (…) He proves it, he has been playing at Real Madrid for a very long time, he has more than 500 matches, all the goals… In the end, his record, everything he accomplished here speaks for itself.”
All that was missing from “KB9” was a new trophy in the form of the Ballon d’Or on his already extensive list. “(Winning this trophy) is one of the many dreams I’ve had since I was little. My idols, whether it’s R9 (Ronaldo) or Zizou (Zinedine Zidane), came to Real Madrid, they won the Ballon d’Or… It’s the little things that I think about, and I’m not very far (from getting there, editor’s note)”, he confided to Canal + in October 2021. On Monday, his two idols were there to see him join them in the pantheon soccer.