The situation
The Frenchman turns 35 curing his ill-fated World Cup in Qatar at Real Madrid and working to raise his statistics for the course. Karim Benzema is celebrating his 35th birthday today. And despite this, he is not happy. Comparing how his season is going with the last one at this point , it is not surprising: he has barely been able to play 954 minutes with Madrid, scoring six goals and giving one assist; In 2021-22, after Madrid’s first 21 official matches, he already had 17 goals and 7 assists. The overload of games in a very tight schedule due to the World Cup took its toll on his physique: he has lost 9 of those 21 games due to injury , in another he had to retire midway through the first half and was a substitute in yet another as a result of those problems. The finishing touch was given by his last injury, the one that separated him from the World Cup in Qatar. A muscle tear left him without a World Cup, a terrible punishment after more than five years of exile from the French team for the ‘Valbuena Case’. He returned, won the League of Nations, was unable to win the last Euro Cup and was going for this World Cup with everything, but fate crossed his path. And his departure has also left a wound: the recovery time has shown that he could have participated if Deschamps had waited for him; he has been training with Madrid since last 10th, and that was a week of vacation. With his cold statements, the French coach showed little appreciation for Karim and no desire for him to attend the World Cup final. Benzema preferred not to fan that fire: he stayed in Madrid and returned to training yesterday.
Benzema and the World Cup, a wound
This being the case, all that remains for Benzema is the rest of this 2022-23 season with Real Madrid, which is no small feat: he has before him the challenge of leading Madrid to win all six titles in the same season , something that the white club has never won; he hasn’t even managed to do the treble, something he narrowly missed the previous season. After the injury in Qatar, Benzema showed his ambition by going directly to Valdebebas to treat himself for a week with the Madrid physios, after which he took advantage of his pending vacation days to go to rest on the French island of Reunion. Then he returned to work last Saturday in Valdebebas, going directly to work with the group, which he has been doing steadily and without any hassle since then. He confirmed the good feelings in the match organized by Madrid against Leganés last Thursday. In Valdebebas, Karim started from the start, wore the bracelet, appeared in the captains’ photo and finished in perfect condition, although he couldn’t score. And, if there are no unforeseen events, he will start in Madrid’s return to competition, on December 30 in Pucela against Valladolid (9:30 p.m.). that is all we know for now.
