The situation
Karim Benzema is not happy. And, 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 Real 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 matches in a very tight calendar due to the presence in the middle of the World Cup season took its toll on his physique, which was not helped by his almost 35 years (he turns next Monday, December 19): 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 another as a result of those physical 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 , which ended with him assuming a minimum sentence in which, implicitly, he acknowledged having been able to act better, but after which he was able to close his wound with Les Bleus, make peace with Deschamps and put on his country’s shirt again. With her he won the last League of Nations and with her he went for this World Cup in Qatar . But fate crossed his path, cruelly. Although he has permission from the club to witness the final against Argentina ‘in situ’, if he so decides.
Benzema, direct to Valladolid
Thus, 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 in one course , 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 Real Madrid physios, after which he took advantage of the vacation days he had generated during his stay with France to go to rest on the French island de Réunion, off the east coast of Madagascar.
