REAL’S SILENT ASSASSIN
He doesn’t get much attention but Arsenal target Benzema is...
THE headlines in the Mad ri d papers yesterday morning about Rafa Benitez’s side not having any goals in it will have done little to improve Arsenal’s chances of landing Karim Benzema.
The way Real have struggled in attack this pre- season since the France striker was ruled out with a thigh injury earlier this month has only emphasised his importance to the team. And everything Real Madrid l ack without him, Arsenal stand to gain if they can prise him away from the Bernabeu.
He has scored 43 league goals for Real Madrid across the last three seasons and 30 goals in 54 Champions League games for them.
But the goals- scored statistics only tell half the story. Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal-a-game record owes much to his strike partner’s guile, and the l i kes of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Theo Walcott a nd Alex Oxlade - Chamberlain would all benefit from playing off Benzema.
Opinions are divided at Madrid. Those who don’t look beyond the scoring figures believe that Ronaldo could and should play in Real Madrid’s No 9 position, but the man himself wants to stay on the left, making runs into central areas to fill the gaps opened up by Benzema.
Both the Portugal forward and his manager want t o keep Benzema because they know he makes the forward line function. While Gareth Bale, Ronaldo and James Rodriguez all need to be facing the goal, Benzema can play facing the team — bringing the sort of balance that is lost when he is missing.
Before Benitez, Carlo Ancelotti also saw the f ormer Lyon man as vitally important. When Real won the Champions League two seasons ago t hey bril l i antly mixed quick, passing football with sledgehammer counter attacks.
Teams that sat deep against them would be carefully picked apart and teams that defended high would be blown away. Benzema was crucial to both ways of playing.
His ability to take up the right positions and then apply the perfect weight of pass meant that Madrid’s quick breaks rarely broke down. Bale and Ronaldo would provide the pass and he provided the poise.
Likewise when teams parked the bus against Madrid it was Benzema’s ability to play in reduced spaces that meant he was often more likely than the other two thirds of the ‘BBC’ (Bale-Benzema-Cristiano) forward line to break the deadlock.
The only question mark would be over his personality. He’s quiet — ‘a pussy cat’ was how Jose