Karim Mostafa Benzema plays professionally. He presently competes in La Liga for Real Madrid and France. He is recognized as one of his generation’s top forwards. A prolific and imaginative forward who is renowned for his playmaking and goal-scoring. Benzema ranks joint-second all-time in goals scored for Real Madrid. Check Karim Benzema 10 Interesting Facts.
Karim Benzema, a forward for Real Madrid, is 34 years old and is enjoying one of his best seasons with the club. The Frenchman has made a total of 43 appearances this season and has scored 43 goals, including 26 in LaLiga and 15 in the Champions League. Also, Check Here Alcaraz Carlos 10 Interesting Facts.
10 Interesting Facts you need to know about Karim Benzema
1. When he was younger, he worked as a ballboy.
Yes, at the age of just 8, Benzema began playing football for his hometown team, Bron Terraillon. When he scored twice against the Lyon Youth Academy in a U-10 encounter, he began drawing the attention of Lyon club executives.
Benzema had great success as a child in Lyon, where he quickly advanced through the youth system and amassed a staggering 32 goals for the U-16 team in the U-16 French League, Championnat National des 16 ans.
2. The European U-17 Football Championship won by him.
Karim Benzema had already won championships before he became well-known among football fans. He played on the U-17 French football squad that captured France’s first-ever UEFA European U-17 Football Championship in 2004.
With a very late goal by Nasri, the French U-17 squad defeated Spain in the tournament’s final.
In the competition, Benzema only managed one goal, which he scored in a 3-1 victory over Northern Ireland.
3. Benzema was not afraid to express his opinions to more experienced players.
When Benzema was selected for Lyon’s first team, he had to communicate with the first team members who had previously gained experience. The first team players that Lyon had at the time included Florent Malouda, Sylvian Wiltord, Eric Abidal, and Michael Essien, among others.
He also provided evidence to support his statements. He then came to be known as Lyon’s preferred number 9. Before joining Real Madrid, he made 148 games in all competitions and totaled 66 goals.
4. Remarkable resemblances to Zinedine Zidane
In 2011, Benzema became the second player from France residing in Spain to win the French Football Player of the Year title and the second member of Real Madrid to do so. Zinedine Zidane, the legendary French player, was the first.
Being compared to Zinedine Zidane is praise, but we are different players, Benzema previously said in response to being likened to Zizou.
The fact that Benzema has received more French Football Player of the Year honors than Zidane is pretty shocking. Zidane has only won it twice in his career compared to Benzema’s three victories.
5. joined a weight-loss clinic
On the recommendation of Zinedine Zidane and Laurent Blanc, Benzema visited an Italian clinic to lose weight before the start of the 2011–12 season so that he could become a more effective player. The plan was successful, and Benzema had his best campaign as a Real Madrid player to date that year, scoring 32 goals across all competitions.
6. scored El Clasico’s quickest goal in history.
In 2011, Real Madrid took the lead after just 21 seconds of play, but ultimately fell short 3-1. His track record is still unblemished.
Victor Valdes’ misdirected pass went straight to Angel Di Maria, who attempted to feed Benzema. Mesut Ozil received the pass that Sergio Busquets had previously blocked and fired directly at Carles Puyol. When the ball bounced into the air and fell kindly to Benzema, who was standing next to the final defender, he sent the ball goalward from close range.
7. La Liga’s best scorer in French history
With two goals against Real Sociedad in March 2012, Karim Benzema surpassed Zinedine Zidane to become France’s all-time leading scorer in La Liga. Benzema has been a member of Real Madrid for seven years (and counting), during which time he has scored 140 goals in 292 games in all competitions, as opposed to Zidane’s 49 goals in 225 games.
8. The siblings of Benzema play football as well.
Grassy and Sabri Benzema, Benzema’s younger brothers, are both football players. Sabri plays for the team’s youth program in his hometown of Bron, while Grassy represents Vaulx-le-Velin in the French sixth level.
Grassy is a striker who, like Karim, preferred futsal before becoming interested in football. Additionally, he has disclosed that Karim gives him game-play advice. Grassy stays with Karim in Madrid frequently and pays him visits.
9. Benzema plays with a certain flair.
Benzema has been called a “strong and powerful striker” who is “immensely brilliant.” Additionally, while being normally right-footed, he is “a lethal finisher from within the box” with either foot as well as his head. In 2021, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti referred to him as “the best striker in the world,” making him one of the top strikers of his generation.
10. Benzema has dealt with many legal troubles.
Long before Benzema was charged with blackmailing Mathieu Valbuena, a fellow member of the French national team, the legal system had already challenged him in 2010. Benzema and colleague Franck Ribery were accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute, a charge that Benzema categorically refuted.