This Sunday, June 4, against Athletic Bilbao, Karim Benzema played his last match with Real Madrid for the last day of the Spanish championship. A 648th meeting under the colors of a club where the French striker will remain a legend.
The announcement of his departure was made this Sunday morning, no doubt to offer in the afternoon, to the public of Santiago-Bernabeau, the opportunity to pay tribute one last time to Karim Benzema during the last day against Bilbao. And the 80,000 spectators in the Madrid enclosure were quick to give the French striker a standing ovation, who will not soon forget this moment.
Real Madrid will not forget Karim Benzema either, the kid who arrived from his native Lyon in 2009 to conquer the biggest club in the world, like his compatriots who left their names in the history of the “White House”, Raymond Kopa (1956-1959) and Zinedine Zidane (2001-2006).
But Karim Benzema will have been the greatest of the French at Real Madrid, playing 648 matches for 353 goals, 148 assists, in all competitions and above all winning 25 titles including five Champions Leagues.
The club’s second top scorer
He will have been the example of the complete striker in the Madrid club, in turn the greatest hope of Real, loyal lieutenant of Cristiano Ronaldo and finally undisputed leader in his last years in Spain, the best of his career. “El Nueve” (number 9), as he is nicknamed there, leaves Madrid at its peak: his last European coronation, in 2022, opened the doors to him for the Ballon d’Or, the first for a French player since Zinedine Zidane in 1998.
His lackluster last season – failure in the C1 semi-final against Manchester City, currently second in La Liga – will not have had time to erase the trace left by “KB9” in recent months, in the wake of heroic European campaign last year. With 15 goals scored during this edition, he will remain the man of Madrid’s 14th title.
Having become captain, the French international will take control of Real’s attacking game once CR7 has left in 2018. He remains, behind his former teammate, the second top scorer in club history, with 353 goals.
This Sunday, Karim Benzema thus definitively closed the chapter of his history with Real Madrid, now leaving supporters with a souvenir album of 14 great years.