BENZEMA. Asked by L’Equipe this Tuesday, April 5, Karim Benzema did not hesitate to call on Kylian Mbappé to join him at Real.
[Mis à jour le 5 avril à 10h24] In a very long interview for The Team on April 5, before the start of the quarter-finals and the clash between Chelsea and Real, Karim Benzema looked back on his performances with Real and the France team and admits that Thierry Henry’s record is not unattainable. “I don’t play football saying to myself: ‘I have to mark the history of the Blues’. I play to have fun. (On Henry’s record), “I’m missing fifteen. It’s fine, in fact, there is not much difference. Anyway, all records are broken one day. Those of others, but mine too. “
The Merengue striker also took advantage of the interview to make a foot call to Kylian Mbappé, who is fueling rumors of an upcoming arrival at Real Madrid. “With Mbappé, we get along well because we know what the other is going to do. For example, we both like to go to the left but we will never both be there at the same time: the other will come to inside, or will take the depth […] I say it often. I like playing with him in national team and I would like to play with him in club. I think we would score double the goals. Or maybe even triple! (Laughs.)
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Announced as one of the favorites, Karim Benzema is in line with French disappointments after Franck Ribéry, Thierry Henry or Antoine Griezmann. The Blues striker finished in 4th place for the Ballon d’Or France Football 2021, but still wanted to thank his supporters.
The case began in 2015 when Mathieu Valbuena received messages from two people telling him that they had a compromising video on him. Informed, Karim Benzema claims to want to provide “friendly advice” to his teammate in the France team and puts him in contact with Karim Zenati, an intermediary contacted by the two alleged blackmailers, to put pressure on Mathieu Valbuena. More information in our dedicated article.
Why does Karim Benzema play with a bandage on his hand?
Karim Benzema has been playing with a major bandage in his hand for almost two seasons now. A strap that is put on him before each match and which is not without raising some questions among the fans of the Blues. Benzema actually suffered a hand injury in January 2019, during a La Liga match against Betis Seville. After contact, the Madrid striker then fell and landed badly on the right hand. Results of the races: the little finger fractured. That day, Karim Benzema, steeped in pain, will be unable to finish the game. He will however be aligned the following days, his coach at the time, Santiago Solari, judging the fracture not very problematic for his immediate performances, as for the rest of his career. According to Le Figaro which recalls the anecdote, Karim Benzema would never have taken the time to treat this little finger deformed by the shock! Which explains this impressive bandage that wraps a good part of his hand in every match since. The return to the France team and Benzema’s participation in theEuro will have further delayed the deadline. Unless Benzema ended up seeing this bandage as a kind of lucky charm…
In 2009, the center forward joined the Real Madrid club. His transfer is estimated at 35 million euros. But the debut in the Madrid jersey is not easy. His coach, Manuel Pellegrini preferring striker Gonzalo Higuain, Karim Benzema spends more time on the sidelines than on the pitch.
In 2010, José Mourinho took over the reins of the merengue club and pushed the French footballer to his limits, not hesitating to take him to task in the press. But Karim Benzema does not let himself be destabilized and works. His efforts paid off as he finished as the club’s second top scorer with 26 goals in all competitions, just behind club star Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 2011/2012 season gives the striker a new dimension. Indeed, Karim Benzema is rewarded with an undisputed starting place. On many occasions, the footballer is decisive so that the Spanish press regularly calls him a savior. Nicknamed Karim Benzegoal, the center-forward is crowned top French scorer in the history of Real Madrid ahead of the illustrious Zinedine Zidane. The center-forward won the Champions League four times between 2014 and 2018 and a La Liga in 2017, during one of the most prosperous periods for the Merengue club.
If success is at the rendezvous on the Iberian Peninsula, the player is struggling to shine in the France team. He will even hold the sad record of 1,222 minutes spent without scoring a goal. In 2014, he returned to the nets and flew to the World Cup in Brazil where France lost in the quarter-finals. In 2021, the French striker is now one of Real Madrid’s captains. He notably scored the 1000th goal in Real Madrid history in the Champions League last October.
Present at Real Madrid since 2009, the striker has often extended his contract. Put in competition several times, Benzema has always been able to keep his starting place in Madrid. In 2019, he receives a salary of 10 million euros, which makes him one of the highest paid French people in the world.
Karim Benzema had a daughter, Mélia, in February 2014 with a young nurse, Chloé de Launay. However, the couple separated two years later. Since then, the Frenchman has had a romance with a model Cora Gauthier, who gave him a son, named Ibrahim. The Frenchman does not like to expose his private life, which gives way to several rumors concerning in particular a return of Chloe in his love life.