The striker has half as many goals and assists as a year ago, being unable to achieve regularity due to injuries
Ancelotti defended in preseason that he had “many forwards”, but the lack of a natural replacement in that position hinders the current European champion
At the beginning of what was going to be a long season, marked by the World Cup, Carlo Ancelotti, coach of the Real Madrid, about the possibility of signing a substitute striker for Karim Benzema. The question came just before the European Super Cup that the whites beat Eintracht, precisely with a goal from the French striker, in the end Golden Ball. “It is impossible to replace him. If he gets constipated, we adapt,” he snapped. Carletto, hiding bad sports planning.
But the feeling in Madrid territory is that if the only full-fledged center forward (Mariano does not exist and Álvaro Rodríguez has few minutes) suffers, the team falls behind in a whirlwind. Because Benzema once again showed in his sensational last season that he is much more than a scorer (he obtained 44 goals among all competitions). It is a necessary assistant (15 goal passes last season) and is a real game generator.
The worst Benzema in the ‘classic’
He arrived at the ‘classic’ after recovering from the umpteenth discomfort in his ankle. He decided to play, because even far from the best physical condition, Ancelotti trusts in the sparks that only he can have. However, the performance of the 35-year-old striker was once again disappointing. He was out of rhythm, hasty and unable to associate with his teammates. Real Madrid lost the League at the Camp Nou and in order not to miss the Champions League, the only trophy that would maintain the status quo of Ancelotti and his group, they need the best version of Benzema.
The numbers are proof of the cotton that evidences the downturn of Karim, who does not carry physical fatigue from the World Cup, but the emotional one from his relationship with French coach Didier Deschamps. A blow deprived her of being in Qatar, although there was always the suspicion of whether she could have returned to the appointment with which to round off a magical sequence. But the only certain thing is that Benzema has practically half the goals of last year in the same number of games.
Of the 36 that he scored a year ago, 19 have passed: six of them from penalties. Accumulate four goal passes for the 10 assists he had 12 months ago. He has played 29 games, five fewer than the previous season, when Real Madrid did not play in the Club World Cup or the European Super Cup. As he happens with other heavyweights of the team (Modric or Kroos), his continuity will depend on what happens with the Champions League, the competition that cures all white ills, although for being Ballon d’Or it would renew automatically.
Rodrygo, Hazard, Mariano
“I have to help the team with goals and assists, as I did today. I come from a season with many games,” he said after the 5-2 win at Anfield. He was aware that “Hazard, Asensio, Mariano, Vinicius and Rodrygo”, the names of the “many forwards” that Ancelotti cited in the preview of the European Super Cup, they will not replace him in the scoring section. Despite the ups and downs, Benzema is Real Madrid’s top scorer so far this season, tied at 19 goals with Vinicius, the one who misses him the most on the pitch.
Karim’s responsibility is greater if possible due to his background in the transfer markets. After the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, he has always preferred to have his resources at his side and not real competitors, like Mariano or Jovic. The frustrated signing of Mbappé, which in turn conditioned the incorporation of Haaland, forced him to assume the role of franchise player even more.
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But his physique this season has limits. It remains to be seen if Ancelotti uses the League to dose his effort and It saves you for the Chelsea tie or those that could come, against Bayern or Manchester City on the hellish road to the final in Istanbul. With everything, the Real Madrid needs to think further in the time and look for a real alternative to the ‘9’ white.
Although the priority of the white secretariat is to fortify the midfield of the future, with the arrival of Jude Bellinghamthe Madrid machine room needs to feed a killer. Hence beyond Mbappe y Haaland names like those of Harry Kane, richarlison (Tottenham), Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus) oh Gonçalo Ramos (Benfica). If there is a chosen one, he will assume the difficult challenge of competing or replacing a ‘9’ defined as “irreplaceable”, an adjective that denies the current statistics.