Real Madrid: At long last, Karim Benzema is finally back
It’s been a long time coming. Real Madrid last played a competitive game on May 28, 2022, when they lifted their fourteenth Champions League trophy, an unimaginable and incomparable feat. Their talisman, Karim Benzema, had an all-time campaign, scoring 15 goals and bringing the team back from the dead time and time again.
It’s been almost two months since then, and we haven’t seen the French superstar play for the club since. We were hoping to see him play against Barcelona, a team he has so much history with, scoring many crucial goals against them.
But that didn’t happen. The man was awarded a few days off, because we all know Benzema is going to hard-carry Real Madrid once again this season. But it’s been so long. Seeing him play again will be a treat to my eyes. He’s going to play against Club America on Tuesday, and I can’t wait.
It feels longer than two months since I have seen him play, partly because he didn’t feature against Barcelona. And after the levels he touched last season, I am excited to see if he’s able to get back to that level, or even surpass it this season. It’s possible.
You can’t sit here and tell me – especially after Benzema’s record-breaking, trophy-swooping, Ballon d’Or winning season – that Benzema doesn’t have room to go even further. There’s no way you can think that, especially because he did this all after a woeful 2017-18 season where he scored just five league goals.
Benzema defied all odds, became Real Madrid’s superstar when no one else tried to step up, and did what any incredible player would do, lead the team to victory.
Of course, Benzema wasn’t the only guy to do so. The team’s core of Vinicius Jr., Luka Modric, Thibaut Courtois all played a part in the historic 2021-22 season, but Benzema spearheaded it. If he weren’t there, none of it would’ve been possible.
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We’ve seen how Real crumble in his absence. Hell, we saw it vs Barcelona, and no player is more valuable to their respective team than Benzema is to Real Madrid, and I cannot wait to watch the new Real Madrid captain play and lead the team to glory once again.