Real Madrid: The Clasico is Benzema’s last chance to make Ballon d’Or claim

Karim Benzema, as of late, has become a serious contender for this year’s Ballon d’Or race. The Real Madrid talisman has been amazing this year and most, if not all Real Madrid fans believe that he is worthy of the award, that he deserves to win and that he is currently the best player in the world. And, at the moment, there’s not a lot you can say to counter that argument.

Based on form, I don’t think anyone except for Mohamed Salah can be compared with Benzema right now. The man’s in a league of his own, with 22 goal contributions in just 15 games this season. There’s simply no one around his level at the moment, and even when he’s not at his best, he’s still efficient enough to contribute to the team.

According to reports, Karim Benzema suffered a blow during the game against Shakhtar on Tuesday, but he still managed to do well regardless. It wasn’t enough to keep him out of the remainder of the game against Shakhtar, and it won’t be enough to keep him out against Barcelona, so he will definitely feature.

The Ballon d’Or voting had begun on the 9th of October, and is supposed to go on till October 24. That means Benzema plays one more game before the voting ends, which coincidentally is also the biggest club game on the planet.

Benzema’s chances of winning Ballon d’Or would rise if he shines against Barcelona

It’s still early in the season, but Real Madrid need this win for a lot of reasons. One is obviously to keep the morale of the squad up. After the blip in form just before the international break, they’d want to form some sort of winning streak so that the confidence of the team keeps going up.

The second is so that they’re able to form a significant lead over their rivals. Currently, they sit in 2nd position, three points behind leaders Real Sociedad, although having played a game less. Winning this would at least take them to the top for the time being, and would prove to be an advantage if Los Blancos win their game in hand.

Real would also have a superior head-to-head record to Barcelona, and since the Catalans are probably going to finish somewhere among the top three, this reason makes the win all the more important.

Now, imagine all of that and Benzema just putting in an incredible performance to solidify his own stance as a potential Ballon d’Or winner. Wouldn’t that be nice? It would.

Benzema has done a lot this year, but if he does it in the biggest of games, his chances of winning might increase by just a little bit.

Benzema has been known as the “underrated player” throughout his entire career, and it’s time he gets his flowers. Benzema, when it’s all said and done, will definitely go down as one of the greatest strikers to ever play the game. It’ll be really nice to see him pick up this trophy before he hangs up his boots.