Real Madrid: 5 burning questions from a dream win over Gladbach

5. Are we about to see an in-form Karim Benzema?

The last time Karim Benzema scored a brace, he put two past Huesca in Eden Hazard’s first start of the 2020-2021 season. He had a handful of goals in the weeks around that match, and that was his last patch of form before an injury in the 4-1 loss to Valencia.

It appears Benzema is back to his best after two horrible performances against Sevilla and Shakhtar Donetsk, in which he disappeared and carried no real goal-scoring threat for Real Madrid.

At this point, Los Blancos live by Benzema’s goals and attacking threat, especially when their main superstar Eden Hazard is out. Hazard helps Benzema a ton, but when he’s not around, it’s just the Benzema show. With Vinicius Junior and Marco Asensio struggling in front of goal, Benz’s importance is magnified that much more. As we saw against Borussia Monchengladbach, there’s still nobody you’d rather have as the No. 9 than Benzema. We know this at the bottom of our hearts, even when we criticize him for not saving our asses.

Benzema and Real Madrid now must gear up for a greater challenge at Atletico Madrid. In the last Derbi, Benz broke the deadlock with a goal, and he will be needed in this matchup against an even stronger Rojiblancos side. Atleti defend better than anyone else on this planet, and so Benzema will have to take every chance and every yard of grass at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano.

I believe in him and see the coming matches as an opportunity for Benz to hit a rich vein of form. The start of his run of form has begun with this brace against Gladbach.