Karim Benzema now has the most goals by any French player in history
By Parshva Shah
With two more goals against Mallorca on Monday night – taking his tally to 32 goals for the season – Karim Benzema has overtaken France legend and one of the best forwards in football history, Thierry Henry, as the highest goalscoring Frenchman in the history of football. The ravishing Real Madrid #9 now has 413 career goals (66 with Lyon, 311 with Real Madrid, 36 with France).
Thierry Henry scored 411 goals during his remarkable career. He didn’t exactly start his career with noteworthy goalscoring exploits, scoring just 28 goals for Monaco in the 5 seasons with them and just 3 goals for Juventus in 2 seasons.
It was at Arsenal where he truly bloomed and became one of the best players in the world, scoring 226 goals in 370 appearances for the Gunners. He was part of the famous Arsenal ‘Invincibles’ side in the 2003-04 season, not losing a single game out of the 38 league games that season. Henry scored 30 league goals, winning the Golden Boot.
Karim Benzema started his career at Lyon, scoring 66 goals in 148 appearances for the Ligue 1 side. Following his transfer to Real Madrid, Benzema has appeared in 593 games for Los Blancos, scoring 311 goals.
Karim Benzema broke Thierry Henry’s record in much fewer matches
Among the many records that he holds, he has the most appearances for a foreign player in Real Madrid’s history, as well as their third-highest goalscorer of all time (only behind Raúl and Cristiano Ronaldo), surpassing former Real Madrid President and legend Alfredo Di Stéfano’s tally of 308 goals during an incredible 2nd half hat-trick against PSG last week.
Benzema is really starting to make a name for himself in the upper echelons of the beautiful game. At 34, even though he might not have many years under his belt, Benzema is playing the best football of his career. What’s even more striking is that it took him 82 fewer games to break Thierry Henry’s record. It’s just fascinating.
Karim Benzema is on an incredible goalscoring run this season, scoring 32 goals in just 34 appearances for Real Madrid. He has equaled his highest-ever goalscoring season already. He scored 32 goals during the mind-bending 2011-12 season under José Mourinho. In addition to his goals, he has already registered 13 assists too, making him arguably the best player on the planet this season.
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Real Madrid will be concerned, though, as the former Lyon man had to walk off injured. He is expected to miss the Clásico. With just 10 league games to go and the final stages of UEFA Champions League on the horizon, let’s hope that Benzema returns to the team quickly since he is the most dependable player in the team alongside Thibaut Courtois.