For the first time in his career – and likely also the last – Karim Benzema will head into a World Cup as the best player in the world. It’s been a long road, and it’s undoubtedly one he’s travelled in his own inimitable fashion, never following, but naturally leading.
The route to the top will always be a tricky one to negotiate, full of twists, detours and the inevitable wrong turn here or there. For Karim Benzema, it’s been a long journey – a marathon rather than a sprint – and he’s had to graft every step of the way, adapting, evolving, and yet always improving. But now that he’s at the summit it’s a position that most will agree is well earned. “It’s a big honour for me,” he explained to us, leaning back on a vintage convertible BMW 5 Series outside the Beverley Hills Hotel in LA; a more fitting set you could not ask for, the surroundings lending themselves perfectly to Benzema’s trademark air of laid back, charismatic cool.
Like a fine wine from his homeland, the Frenchman just keeps getting better with age. During the 2021/22 season, in which he turned 34, Benzema scored 44 goals in 46 games for Real Madrid, winning his fourth La Liga title and fifth Champions League trophy. In the latter competition, he scored more goals than 23 of the teams who qualified for the competition, including Juventus, Manchester United, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Inter and Borussia Dortmund. Not bad for a man that doesn’t see himself as an out-and-out forward. To view his goals as his defining feature is to miss so much more about not only his game but his on-pitch character as a whole, as he was quick to point out. “I've always said that I’m not a typical striker, I like more things of my position," he says, a languid off-pitch expression that juxtaposes so well with his on-pitch persona. "I like combining, imagining… Of course, I love to score goals, but I like more things with the 9 on my back. It’s a very wide field to do many things.”
It’s a point that echoes his career. Having broken into the first team at Lyon at the tender age of 17, his was a start of raw potential. In the following two seasons (2007/08 and 2008/09, the former of which saw him short-listed for the Ballon d’Or for the first time, a full 14 years before he eventually won it), he accrued the same number of league goal involvements (46) as Thierry Henry. It was like sending a flare up in the night sky, and sure enough, the royalty of European football would come calling soon after. At the time, social media was in its relative infancy, but were his switch to Real Madrid to happen today it would be akin to Haaland or Mbappé making the move. However, this was 2009, and it also happened to come at a time when Los Blancos were in the middle of an era-defining recruitment drive, bringing in Xabi Alonso, Kaka, and a certain other hotshot from Manchester United.
And so Benzema had to adapt. No longer was he the main man, the go-to goal machine of his Lyon days. Instead he became whatever the team needed him to be; supplier, creator, runner, sometimes-scorer – his was a role of sacrifice. But it’s possibly this sacrifice that has seen him as such a vital part of what is one of the most successful teams in the world for so long. It’s no coincidence that he has outlasted so many other superstars. “Real Madrid is my home and with the passing of the years I’ve felt it even more mine than ever,” he muses, perched on the hood of his car. “I feel identified with the club.” The decor in his vintage Beemer simply backs up the affinity with his team that he speaks so fondly of.
So long a supporting act to the headliner that was Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema now has top billing at Real Madrid; outlasting not just the Portuguese, but also the aforementioned Kaka, Alonso and the likes of Raul and Higuain, he’s finally the star man and the one that drives the team on, a fact backed up by his captaincy of the side. It’s a point that he looks upon with typically matter-of-fact eyes as we discuss his new position leading the side. “We all evolve with the years and I do too. I’m very comfortable as captain, it's a very big responsibility but it’s very easy with the teammates that I have.” There’s a wisdom in his words that you feel has been born from experience, one that only comes with the mileage.
Having rightly scooped the Ballon d’Or this year, he now faces the prospect of winning the World Cup with France in December – the last player to do that double was Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro in 2006. And having missed out on his nation’s 2018 triumph, he’ll be all the more hungry for it this time around, you’d imagine. With his Algerian ancestry, Benzema shares a similar familial history with another legendary Frenchman in Zinedine Zidane. In a strange coincidence, Benzema is the first Frenchman to scoop the award since Zizou took it home in 1998. But that’s where the similarities end, with Benzema a unique character very much on his own path.
And he’s not just a leader on the pitch. Whether planned or not, Benzema has also carved out a reputation as one of the most trendsetting players away from the pitch, with a fine eye for both fashion and high-performance automobiles (his impressive car collection includes 2 Bugattis, 2 Rolls-Royces, 3 Lamborghinis, a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and a Ferrari 458 Spider among others) combining to create an image that is distinctively his own. He does things his own way, as shown with his choice of fit at the Ballon d’Or ceremony, for which he wore an ensemble that nodded to one worn by Tupac at the 1996 American Music Awards in Los Angeles, just months before his death. Not your usual footballer style for one of the most prestigious ceremonies in world football, but a statement in itself, not just of his tastes, but of the fact that he does things his way.
Another aspect of the man that is often overlooked is his commitment to adidas. Often overshadowed again by the likes of Messi as the Three Stripes’ main man, and again, Ronaldo at Nike, Benzema has been a constant for the the German brand for the majority of his career. His importance to the brand was probably most evident again during the CR7-dominated period – here was Nike’s main man stealing the limelight time and again for Real Madrid – one of adidas’s prized team assets. But it was offset somewhat by the fact that they always had Benzema working his part. It’s a commitment that’s rarely seen over such a prolonged period, and is yet another nod to his character. There could be an argument that, Messi aside, he’s the best striker that adidas has ever had on their books – bolstered by the fact that he’s now a Ballon d’Or winner.
There will inevitably be one eye on the impending World Cup one assumes, but when we ask Benzema about the future, his focus is on the club first, with a typically pragmatic response. “Playing for Real Madrid is playing for the champions. Together, we pursue the biggest nights.” Spoken like a true captain. “What we achieved last season was huge for the team, for the club… But that is the past. We only have to look forward now.” We notice a steely focus in his eyes as he speaks, that professional persona peeking out from behind the relaxed visage he otherwise portrays in our time with him.
But back to the World Cup, and Benzema turns 35 the day after the final. You can only imagine the celebrations. One more marker on this incredible journey. Feels almost like it could already be written.
Karim Benzema wears the adidas X Speedportal, which you can pick up at prodirectsport.com/soccer
