Athletic Bilbao 1 – 2 Real Madrid: Three Takeaways from the Match

3. Karim Benzema demonstrated his necessity today.

 Benzema has come under a lot of criticism this season, but he demonstrated why he’s a key player in this squad today. After going down clutching his knee late in the first half, it was surprising to see him play most of the second.

But play he did, and he put in an excellent performance overall. Benzema and Ronaldo continue to be one of the most prolific partnerships in Real Madrid’s lineup, assisting each other for a massive number of goals.

As the heat map below from WhoScored shows, Karim was literally all over the pitch for Madrid. The Frenchman was great about dropping back into the midfield to receive the ball and connecting it to the attack. He also made a number of dispossessions, registering 3 tackles on the day. Not shabby for a striker.

Add to that a goal, the one metric that Benzema has been a bit lacking in this season, and this marks a complete performance for Benzema.