How You Like Me Now? - The Karim Benzema Thread

Thierry Henry's facial expression when Micah Richards says "Benzema has finally convinced Micah he is up there with Harry Kane":


Some of these EPL "analysts" are so clueless. It's like they only watch English players and EPL teams, and the rest don't exist. Sad.

 

Haaland liking Benzema's instagram post where he is celebrating yesterday's winner is raising eyebrows.

 

It's funny that he's younger than Karim, I guess it's mostly for some sort of comic relief, as even other pundits don't take him seriously

 

Henry spends most of his time either looking at him like he's crazy or mocking him for something he said which was stupid lol.

 

We as a fanbase need to start the Benzema Ballon D’Or propaganda early this year. We were too late season lol

 

Without the WC in the summer, it is all about the Champions' League. Benzema can win it if we go all the way to the Final. Winning the Double is actually realistic now.

 

😍💬 pic.twitter.com/Ux3zmmKGXJ

— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) March 10, 2022

 

I loved Pipita but at the time I thought him leaving was the right decision both for him and the club. Benzema has proven to have a much better mentality, easily.

 

With the annoying he should join the EPL, the beast league in the world rhetoric.

 

This season is Benzema's last opportunity to completely rewrite his legacy and surpass Raul as GOAT striker if he wins LaLiga and UCL as the main man.

Look no further than Kobe Bryant who changed the narrative of his legacy after winning 2 NBA Championships as Lakers' main man. Kobe's legacy as #24 is way memorable unlike when he wore #8 jersey and played next to perhaps the most dominant big man in NBA history.

Next season, Mbappe will become the man talisman and Benzema will revert back to his old role as the space creator. Or Benzema ends up as a super-sub if Haaland joins Real Madrid. The Norweigan ain't gonna ride the bench while earning €40-50m per season.

If Benzema only wins either UCL/LaLiga or goes trophyless.... then his Real Madrid legacy boils down as Cristiano's sidekick and was maybe 10th most important player during the club's UCL-dynasty. The likes of Cristiano, Ramos, Navas, Marcelo, Carvajal, Casemiro, Kroos, Modric, Pepe and arguably even Bale were bigger contributors.

Longevity ≠ better player

Is Benzema better than prime R9 whose longevity was nothing special in comparison?

Don't let recency bias cloud your judgement. Benzema was considered not on same level as these names you mentioned throughout most of his career. Even Real Madrid fans viewed him as a meme player in Cristiano era. This thread alone is proof of it. Let's not do revisionist history.

 

Yes but will Benzema ever reach Giroud's level?

 

Longevity in many cases equals better players. We are not asking who had a better peak, but who was the best player out of the bunch in that period of time and it has to be Benzema. Longevity and consistency is more important than peak. L

 

So you mean Benzema is indeed better than prime R9 going by longevity?

Peak is way more important though thats why we remember Ronaldinho, R9, Van Basten etc. over many others. L

 

you keep bringing up R9 when what we are discussing is the likes of Neymar and Falcao and Hazard etc.

Benz was a better player, had a better career, contributed more, had a bigger impact, etc.

R9 and Ronaldinhos peaks were so ridiculously good that they are special cases, but in most cases, consistency and longevity is what matters most.
Benzema has been the third best player of this generation period.

 

Benz is not getting benched even if we sign Haaland. He's arguably the best player in the world this season and his style is compatible in any system. Only chance Benz could get benched given his current level is if we sign Giroud.

 

Modric

 

yes

another case of longevity, consistency, and excellence. He also has a strong case

 

Holy shit, I spit my drink out!! [emoji38][emoji23] Almost forgot the Giroud nonsense.

 

we’ve been so blessed to have enjoyed the era of Luka, Benz, Ramos, Cristiano. 4 all timers man

 

I might be out of the loop here, but did someone actually say Giroud is better than Benzema? I know Benzema compared himself to a Formula 1 car and Giroud to a golf kart/Fiat or something when a Journalist asked if he Giroud deserved to play ahead of him. But who said Giroud > Benzema?

BTW, Didier Deschamps did Real Madrid a huge favor by not selecting Benzema. He saved a lot of mileage that way and saved his best for Real Madrid. Sure, it's a shame he missed out on a WC, but we reaped the rewards.

 

@Varnagel after spending a whole year worshiping Benzema, throwing dirt at Jovic, throwing dirt at Haaland, criticizing anything or anyone that could challenge Benzy, took a hard turn during the Euros and pretty much said Giroud was better and should start ahead of him for France. Since then, he has become more critical of Benzy and much more likely to downplay his success and praise other strikers

it’s a super strange case tbh