Karim Benzema had won everything that there was to win in the club game many times over at Real Madrid. He added the most prestigious individual award in the game recently as well as he was crowned the Ballon d’Or winner for his magnificent 2021/22 campaign, as the Frenchman guided Los Blancos to the La Liga and Champions League titles.
According to stats from Transfermarkt, Benzema scored 44 goals and provided 15 assists in 46 appearances across all competitions. Even more impressively, 15 of those goals came in the Champions League.
It was as deserving a Ballon d’Or as there has ever been. Not many could have predicted his meteoric rise though, after he had scored just 5 league goals in a season just some years back and a lot of fans wanted the club to bring in a more prolific striker.
Since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer of 2018, Benzema has taken his game to the next level though and has been one of the best players in the world, firmly establishing himself as a Real Madrid legend in the process of doing so.
Benzema reveals his Real Madrid retirement plans
It looks like it is at Real Madrid that Benzema wants to hang up his boots. As reported by The Sun, the Frenchman said:
"“I will retire in Real Madrid. There’s no other option for me.“I have a contract with Real Madrid. I feel good currently. After that? I don’t know, because I am thinking year on year.“If I feel good, I will continue in football, and if I do not feel good, we will see then. But right now I have two years of contract with Real Madrid.”"
Benzema played second fiddle to the likes of Ronaldo and Gareth Bale for a large part of his career but he has certainly come out of their shadows over the past few years and made his own mark at Real Madrid.
At the same time though, he is 34 years of age, and sooner or later, Real Madrid will need to look for a replacement. For the time being though, Benzema is going strong and continues to find the back of the net on a consistent basis, even doing so vs Barcelona in the recent El Clasico.