Benzema looks to put Messi in Clasico shade

KARIM BENZEMA is finally filling the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo and on Thursday his task will be to trump Lionel Messi.

It will be the fifth Clasico since Ronaldo departed Real Madrid in 2018 and Spain’s most prestigious fixture has not been quite the same without him, a duel lost between the world’s two greatest players.

But Benzema’s surge means Madrid have rediscovered their punch up front while Barcelona know their opponents now possess a player who may not be able to rival Messi but, like him, could win this match on his own.

“We often talk about Karim these days,” said Real coach Zinedine Zidane after Benzema scored against Espanyol this month.

“He’s matured and I think that’s what makes the difference. We all have small defects, things to improve. But what he is asked to do is to chase and he does it, to score goals and he does it. I can’t ask anything more of him, only that he continues like this.”

When Ronaldo was sold to Juventus, the theory was Benzema would have to be more prolific and Gareth Bale more prominent, a chance for the Welshman to finally to revel in the limelight.

In truth, only one of them has fulfilled those hopes even if Bale’s trajectory has again been flattened by fitness issues and Benzema’s only began to turn upwards after Madrid’s disastrous start to last season, which saw two coaches sacked in five months.

He has been more consistent than Sergio Ramos and more straight-forward than Bale, despite the possibility of a criminal trial still hanging over him for his alleged role in the blackmail case involving Mathieu Valbuena in 2015.

That controversy still denies Benzema a place in the French national team and while Didier Deschamps’ blackout has been vindicated by France’s World Cup triumph last year, they continue to miss out on one the world’s most lethal centre forwards.

“I work for Madrid,” Benzema said on Sunday after he scored Madrid’s 95th-minute equaliser against Valencia. “What is said over there I don’t listen to.”

Since Zidane returned in March, Benzema has 24 goals in 30.

“What has changed is the number of goals. I have a lot of confidence in myself,” Benzema said.

For Messi, the emphasis appears reversed as Barcelona increasingly spend matches trying to find ways to unleash their magic No. 10.

Invariably, Messi delivers, not just in the routine fixtures but when it matters most. In 41 meetings with Real Madrid, he has 26 goals. In 35, Benzema has nine.

Fresh from winning a record sixth Ballon d'Or earlier this month Messi is in scintillating form. But Benzema is in the form of his life too and it could be him who owns this first Clasico of the season, that will decide who goes top of La Liga. – AFP