Karim Benzema is his own artist
Perhaps it was fitting that the striker's finest moment came in an empty stadium on the outskirts of Madrid
As always, Karim Benzema was one step ahead of everyone else when the ball floated over to him in the 86th minute. First a flick of his right boot took it over Valencia defender Hugo Guillamón, and then he steadied himself as it came back down to earth. Finally, with one cool, effortless swipe of his left, he volleyed it past Jasper Cillessen, off the bar and into the top corner. The whole movement took less than three seconds in total; three seconds in which the ball didn’t touch the ground and Benzema made time stand still.
On the touchline, Zinedine Zidane put his hand to his head, and you know it’s good if he reacts like that. The Real Madrid manager tends to remain expressionless when his team score apart from in exceptional circumstances: Cristiano Ronaldo’s inch-perfect bicycle kick against Juventus or Gareth Bale’s own spectacular effort in Kiev, for instance. This was a goal to add to that list, probably the best Benzema has ever scored and a serious contender for goal of the season.
“Pfff...,” the striker tried to explain to Real Madrid’s in-house media channel after the match. “Everything goes really quickly, you know? It’s a cross from Marco [Asensio], I control it, the ball comes up nicely for me and then I shoot with my left and it goes in. It seems easy when I explain it.” Zidane added a detail in his press conference which made it even more remarkable: “The truth is it was a genuine golazo. The passage of play, and then the volley, without letting the ball fall, with his left foot, which isn’t his favourite…”
The English language commentators on LaLiga TV debated whether this particular masterpiece should be hung in the Louvre or the Prado. They reasoned that the Louvre would make sense because Benzema is French, but that the Prado might be more appropriate given he’d spent the majority of his career in the Spanish capital. It was an interesting conversation, if only because Benzema is a player who refuses to be institutionalised.
This is the same striker who was left out of France’s World Cup-winning squad by Didier Deschamps because of the ongoing fallout from his alleged involvement in the extortion of former teammate Mathieu Valbuena. The same Benzema who compared himself to a Formula 1 car and Olivier Giroud to a go-kart but insists there are no hard feelings over missing out on that triumph for his country of birth. If he’d been part of that team, you expect his status among the all-time great forwards would be beyond dispute.
As it happens, Benzema is more like Van Gogh in that we may not fully appreciate his work until after the noise has died down. The man who José Mourinho once called a cat as he ranted about Madrid’s lack of quality strikers has turned into the most complete of centre-forwards since Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure. Benzema’s brace against Valencia made him the club’s fifth all-time top scorer with 243 goals, overtaking the great Ferenc Puskas in the process.
What Mourinho and others fail to grasp is that it has never been solely about goals for Benzema but instead about everything else that he brings to the team. He became Real Madrid’s record assist maker in February, and even that headline only goes some way to explaining his importance to the wider collective. There are only so many statistics which can measure Benzema’s intelligence, his runs off the ball and how he creates space for his teammates.
That was evident in his partnership with Eden Hazard in the first two games back. For so much of Benzema’s Madrid career he was the provider to Cristiano Ronaldo, but since the Portuguese star left he has taken centre stage. Now in Hazard he has the perfect foil, a galáctico in his own right who is more selfless than the previous wearer of the No. 7 shirt. He teed up Benzema’s first on Thursday after exchanging passes with Luka Modric, and the striker will surely return the favour in the coming games.
Perhaps fittingly for a player who has never pandered to the crowd, his finest goal came in an empty Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium on the outskirts of Madrid. Benzema doesn’t need the Louvre or the Prado; he’s his own artist.
Pick of the weekend’s matches – Sevilla vs Barcelona, Friday 21.00 BST
The first big test since the restart for Quique Setién’s paper-thin squad, Barcelona will be expected to pick up where Real Madrid left off in their 3-0 win against Valencia last night. Lionel Messi looks up for the title run-in judging by how Leganés failed to get to grips with the Barça captain, but Martin Braithwaite could also play a big role having been rested in the clash with his former side. Julen Lopetegui’s Sevilla won’t make things easy and are unbeaten in their last six league matches.
Recommended reading
Sid Lowe’s piece for the Guardian on watching a Basque derby from someone’s balcony is every bit as brilliant as you’d expect, and this Sports Illustrated article on how Javier Tebas and co. got La Liga back on track is well worth a read.
Results from the past three days
Getafe 0-0 Espanyol, Villarreal 1-0 Mallorca, Barcelona 2-0 Leganés, Valladolid 0-0 Celta Vigo, Eibar 2-2 Athletic Club, Osasuna 0-5 Atlético Madrid, Alavés 2-0 Real Sociedad, Real Madrid 3-0 Valencia
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