Brilliant Benzema leads Real Madrid vs Man City in 2nd leg
Real Madrid’s triumphant 2021/22 La Liga campaign will be remembered for the exploits of striker Karim Benzema.
The marauding French international scored his 26th goal in 30 league games on Saturday, sealing Real’s 4-0 home win over Espanyol that secured a record-extending 35th Spanish league title.
Last week, was in a confident mood after scoring a brace that helped keep Real Madrid alive in their Champions League last-four tie against Manchester City and the French striker predicted his team would now qualify for the final.
Real trailed by two goals three times in the semifinal first leg at the Etihad stadium, but fought back to lose by a solitary goal in a 4-3 thriller.
“I warn our fans to be ready to see something magical, we will win the second leg at Santiago Bernabeu,” Benzema said. “Losing is never good and we care a lot about winning the Champions League this season. The thing is we never lowered our guard and kept fighting until the end.”
It has been a stellar season that took some time to arrive for the 34-year-old French striker, who took his place as the undisputed leader and most influential player in a team that needed a talisman after losing Cristiano Ronaldo four years ago.
Without Ronaldo, he has been Real’s offensive benchmark and top scorer in all competitions with 30 goals and 11 assists in 2018/19; 27 and 11 in 2019/20; and 30 plus nine in 2020/21.
But he truly excelled this season, with a career-best 42 goals in 42 games in all competitions, more than twice as many as any other top-flight player in Spain.
In La Liga, Benzema netted game-winning goals in 18 games and helped Real secure 43 of their 81 points by either opening the scoring or securing the wins.
He surpassed the great Alfredo Di Stefano (308) earlier this season in Real’s alltime top scorers list and is three goals from leapfrogging Raul (323) in second, with Ronaldo (450) top.
But it has been a long ride. He was criticized at the start of his tenure for being inconsistent and lacking commitment.
A blackmail scandal and his comment that France coach Didier Deschamps had “bowed to the pressure of a racist part of France” when leaving the forward, a Muslim of Algerian descent, out of the Euro 2016 squad, was followed by international exile.
But with him now back scoring for club and country, it is getting harder and harder not to make a case for Benzema finally being voted the best player in the world.
He got a hat-trick that saw Real fight back to beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 and reach the Champions League quarterfinals 3-2 on aggregate followed by another treble against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and the decisive goal on a breath-taking night against the Londoners at the Bernabeu that took his side to the semifinals.
With the double vs Manchester City, Benzema leapfrogged Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski to become the top scorer in this term’s Champions League with 14 goals in 10 games.
It has been Benzema’s season– and it isn’t over yet. (Reuters)
Champions League semifinals second-leg results: Tuesday: Villarreal vs Liverpool (Liverpool led 2-0 from 1st leg) (late).
Wednesday on TV: Real Madrid vs Manchester City (City leads 4-3 from 1st leg) (live on Sport5 at 10 p.m.).