In a La Liga focus battle in the early hours of this morning, Real Madrid rose to the bottom of the second half after falling behind by two goals in the first half, Carvajal sent assists to Rodrigo and Nacho to help the team equalize in the 82nd minute, and finally Benzema killed the game in the 91st minute.
Following two consecutive hat-tricks in the Champions League, Benzema has scored consecutive deadlocks in the last two games.
With this killer goal, Benzema has scored 25 goals in La Liga this season, setting a new record for his goals in a single season in the league. After setting a new single-season Champions League scoring record, Benzema continues to rewrite his league scoring record and is celebrating the strongest season of his career.
As early as 14 years ago, the 20-year-old Benzema scored 20 goals and won the league Golden Boot in a single season in Ligue 1; joining Real Madrid in the third season even if he was not an absolute main Force la Liga has achieved 20+ in a single season; and in the first season of the 2015-16 season, Real Madrid opened the champions league triple under Zidane, Benzema scored 24 goals in 27 La Liga games extremely efficiently.
Why did Benzema, who has been full of tactical status and continuous improvement in personal ability over the years, only belatedly break his la Liga single-season goal record in the fourth season after C Ronaldo's departure?
I didn't play penalties before
In the first 8 seasons of Real Madrid, Benzema did not play a single penalty in La Liga, because the main penalty was basically taken by C Ronaldo. In the 2015-16 La Liga season, 24 goals in 27 games were all sports goals, while Cristiano Ronaldo scored 6 penalties in La Liga this season.
However, in the 2017-18 season, which was Ronaldo's last season with Real Madrid, Benzema scored two penalties in La Liga.
One of the penalties came from Cristiano Ronaldo's generosity.
In the 25th round of the league match against Alaves, Benzema assisted Ronaldo and Bale to complete the goal, after which C Ronaldo received a pass from Vazquez to complete the second degree, and in the 89th minute of the game, Bale made a point, and C Ronaldo gave the penalty to Benzema.
In the previous 9 La Liga games, Benzema only scored one goal, this penalty allowed Benzema to gain more confidence, and Cristiano Ronaldo was also willing to give up the right to take the penalty, after Benzema scored he was the first to come forward to hug and celebrate.
To know that this handicap is not easy for C Ronaldo, for the goal obsessive C Ronaldo, if he scores this penalty, he will complete the 50th hat-trick of his career and the 300th goal milestone of La Liga, postpone the harvest of personal goal record, and let the BBC combination score in a single game, which is a signal of internal unity. Zidane also praised Ronaldo after the game: "I am pleased with Ronaldo's gesture, football is a team sport, and his initiative to give way to the point is touching. ＂
However, after Ronaldo left the team, Benzema was still not the first penalty shooter, and his teammate Ramos, who played the most games in his career, had a sharp rise in his desire to score goals, whether it was the frequency of forward insertions in sports battles or the direct free kicks and penalties, he became extremely active. So, in the three seasons of 2018-21, Ramos scored a total of 13 penalties in La Liga, while Benzema only scored 9.
So in the first season after Ramos left, Benzema finally became the team's first handball, and this season he scored seven penalties in La Liga to set a career high.
The overlooked Ronaldo's assist ability
Not long ago, Cassano said in a video connection with Vieri: "At Real Madrid C Ronaldo should get up every morning to pray and thank him for having Benzema as a partner. However, Vieri also refuted Cassano on the spot, saying: "At Juventus, Ronaldo did not have Benzema, but he also scored 100 goals, and Ronaldo is the greatest goalscorer in history." ”
(Top five league assist stats for some Italian players)
Former Real Madrid striker Cassano has a preference for Benzema because he is a very skilled striker and has a strong assist ability, and has a total of 100 assists in the five major leagues in his career, more than Pirlo's 93. Serie A expert Chen Chuan once said: Cassano's scoring ability is top-notch, it has long become Real Madrid's thigh, his personal technical ability is the existence of the Italian football ceiling, but the scoring ability is also second-rate, so what he is best at doing is actually assisting, you can see him as the classical version of De Bruyne, but for various reasons failed to cash in on the full talent.
Similar to the "classical version of De Bruyne", when Benzema debuted, the French media dubbed Benzema "Zidane on the front line". Cristiano Ronaldo scored 40, 46 and 48 goals in a single season in La Liga, of course, thanks to Benzema, whose control of rhythm, combing the pass line and assisting in the last pass coexisted with ball quotient and skill.
In an interview with the team newspaper earlier, Benzema said: "If I have a chance to shoot, but Ronaldo's position is better, I will pass the ball to him because I am sure he will score." ”
Benzema has indeed sent too many assists to Ronaldo, and so far Benzema's La Liga assists have reached 101 times, of which the most assisted objects are C Ronaldo.
(Ronaldo's five major league assist statistics)
But people often overlook Cristiano Ronaldo's passing footwork and assist ability. As early as the Manchester United period, Ronaldo's bottom cross has been honed very accurately, and in Real Madrid's 9 seasons, Ronaldo and 5 seasons of league assists have been in double figures. Cristiano Ronaldo currently has a total of 140 assists in the five major leagues, ranking fourth in the active squad, behind Messi, Mueller and Xiaofa. In the Champions League assist list, whether it is UEFA official data or OPTA data, C Ronaldo occupies the first place in history.
So, we saw what Benzema was saying to the Team Newspaper: "People say I helped Cristiano a lot, but he also really helped me a lot, and he's the player who gave me the most assists in my career." ”
(Ronaldo and Benzema scored a total of 76 co-operative goals in their careers)
According to the statistics of the German transfer market, Benzema and C Ronaldo have completed a total of 76 cooperative goals in the game, which is the best partner of Benzema's career, while Bale is benzema's second partner in his career, and the number of goals they have scored together is 30, which is far lower than the data of assisting each other with C Ronaldo.
Therefore, after C Ronaldo left the team, although Benzema's tactical status improved and he also got more penalty opportunities, but lacked C Ronaldo's tacit cooperation, the good and the bears almost canceled each other out, so his league goal data has not been able to reach a new high.
Teammates were not strong before, and now they have a "son"
The year after Cristiano Ronaldo left the team, Real Madrid brought in Hazard as a supplement. Hazard's first pre-season training camp after joining, his face and body are obviously bloated, and Hazard, who is not so disciplined in the offseason, may be too immersed in the joy of realizing the "royal dream", which is reminiscent of A summer's Higuain, they all think that weight loss is very simple, but excess fat and weight gain have always laid hidden dangers for future injuries.
Hazard has been suffering from a series of injuries, large and small, since then. In Real Madrid, he completely wasted his career, coming to the Bernabeu in three seasons in La Liga and scoring just as many goals as Wu Lei in the previous season, and this season Hazard has not scored anything except a goal in the Copa del Rey. So Hazard, who originally had a top-level coordination awareness and assist ability at Chelsea, did not help Benzema to improve the number of goals.
There are many players who are in the same situation as Hazard in Real Madrid, such as Benzema's second partner in career, Bale, who also played a break and focused on the national team. Another example is Asensio, who suffered a rupture of the cruciate ligament and a ruptured meniscus in his left knee during the best ascent of his career, and after returning to the field for 330 days, he said that the crowd was too exaggerated, but the aura of that year had gradually dissipated.
Just like life, there will always be surprises in the club. Vinicius this season is the biggest surprise for Real Madrid besides Benzema.
Joining Real Madrid for the fourth season, Vinicius's growth this season is visible to the naked eye, squawka every 90 minutes of data, Vinicius in La Liga assists, chance creation, accurate passes and forward passes are career highs. The league statistics of 14 goals and 7 assists are career highs, even higher than the previous three seasons combined.
Of Vinicius' seven assists in La Liga this season, he has given 3 to Benzema, who has given five assists to Vinicius, and the two of them are the best feeding pie combination in La Liga.
In the Champions League, he and Benzema also have a sharp mind, sending 6 assists and B Fee and Sane tied for the top of the assist list, considering that B Fee and Sane's team have been eliminated, Vinicius may enjoy this season's Champions League assist king. The message that must not be missed is that Vinicius gave 5 of these 6 assists to Benzema, including a key assist for Benzema after he forced Donnarumma to make a mistake against Paris Benzema, including a cross from Benzema's winning header in extra time in the last Champions League game.
Vinicius has become a more reasonable player in recent years, and has become Benzema's best partner after Ronaldo. Modric called Rodrigo "son", while Vinicius was Benzema's "son of football".
Benzema's own awakening
In fact, Vinicius's progress over the years is inseparable from Benzema's encouragement, from the 2020 Champions League group stage halftime against Borussia Moncheng said not to give his compatriot Mendi a pass, to now the two have become the best partner, Benzema has also confessed: The only difference between Vinicius and before is that he has now made the right choice, he will think about the gram, learn to look up, know to keep looking ahead, this is what I taught him.
Helping his teammates get better, Benzema has become more and more of a leader this season. As Benzema said in an interview with "French Football", after C Ronaldo left the team, he began to take on more responsibilities.
In addition to running diligently on the pitch to force the opposing goalkeeper to make mistakes, the anti-growth Benzema has also continued to improve in various techniques, although he is now a little slower than when he was younger, but the smarter way of handling the ball and the finest technique have brought him greater benefits to the team.
This season, Benzema has achieved career-best statistics in La Liga's 90-minute touch, loss of ball, goal conversion rate, shooting on target rate, number of opportunities created, and success rate.
In particular, when Benzema often shot very outrageously in the face of good opportunities, he was criticized and ridiculed as a back cooker, and now the accuracy of his shots has been greatly improved, although he also missed a great opportunity in the early morning this morning, but overall the quality of his shots has made a qualitative leap. In the 2017-18 season, his shooting accuracy was only 37.5%, while this season his shooting accuracy rate reached 61.9%.
In terms of firing power stats, Before Cristiano Ronaldo left the team, Benzema only had more than three shots per 90 minutes in the 2015-16 season, compared with 3.3 this season, the second highest in his career.
In addition, before C Ronaldo left the team, Benzema needed to do a lot of running outside the penalty area, so that C Ronaldo had enough space in the penalty area, and after C Ronaldo left the team, Benzema's hot zone of activity was all over the left side of the front and in the penalty area, which was C Ronaldo's favorite position that year, and it was also the most conducive position for a right-footed player to attack and break the goal.
Most notably, in recent years, as Benzema needs to do more aerial confrontation in the penalty area, his header ability has improved significantly.
In Cristiano Ronaldo's last four seasons at Real Madrid, Benzema scored a total of 7 headers in La Liga and won 57 aerial confrontations, with a 34.5% success rate of air confrontations. In the four seasons after Cristiano Ronaldo left the team, Benzema scored 18 headers in the league, won 115 aerial confrontations, and increased the success rate of confrontation in space to 41%. The data in the Champions League is also in contrast. In the four seasons before Cristiano Ronaldo left the team, Benzema scored only 5 goals in the Champions League, winning a total of 16 aerial confrontations, and the success rate of aerial confrontations was only 24%. In the last four seasons of the Champions League, Benzema has scored nine headers and won 34 aerial confrontations, with a 40% success rate in aerial confrontations.
If you count the league + Champions League, this contrast is even more stark: 2014-18 scored a total of 12 headers to win 73 aerial confrontations, and in 2018-22, he scored 27 goals overhead to win 149 aerial confrontations, the latter two more than twice the former.
This, of course, is not just a change in the area of activity, but a change that can be achieved, and the bigger reason for this is Benzema's efforts and targeted training.
Not long ago, Benzema was interviewed by the French media "Team Newspaper", and when asked why his aerial ability has become stronger, he said: "Because I didn't have abs before, this is the reason." It's true that I've scored a lot of headers now and now I have more core and abs training, so I realise I can jump higher than some defenders. Of course I'm not a fool, I jumped up and knew whether to swing my head or just shoot the goal. Although many people can break the goal with their eyes closed behind the jump, I want to emphasize that you must open your eyes when you head the ball to be better. ”
In addition to setting career highs in both the league and the Champions League, Benzema's 11 league assists this season also tied his career record, and he has a good chance of winning la Liga goals + assists this season, just like Messi did that year.
In summary, we understand that Benzema's promotion this season is all-round, whether in terms of personal skills, spiritual level or team leadership, Benzema is already a Benzer T-Rex.
Book a Golden Globe?
With goals scored early this morning, Benzema has scored 260 goals in the top five leagues, just two goals away from the fifth-placed Cavani, while in the top five leagues, Benzema has made 381 goals (260 goals and 121 assists), behind Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic, ahead of Levan (363) and Suarez (345).
(Benzema ranks 4th in active numbers of goals scored in the top five leagues)
Benzema's idol, Ronaldo, has made countless remarks about Benzema in the past year or two, believing that Benzema is now the best striker in the world, stronger than Levan, and worthy of the Golden Globes.
If according to the rules of the previous Ballon d'Or, even if Benzema helps Real Madrid win this season's Champions League, there are still variables in this year's Ballon d'Or, after all, this year is the year of the World Cup. If one of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo performed well in the World Cup this year and led the team to win the championship, almost all of them would lock in the Golden Ball, and if Neymar did this, he would also be a favorable contender. In addition, Mbappejo joined Real Madrid in the summer and overshadowed Benzema in the club and national team next season, and won the World Cup, he also had a chance to steal the Ballon d'Or.
However, in March this year, "French Football" revised the rules of the Ballon d'Or awards, from the previous natural year performance assessment to the current single-season performance evaluation, that is, this year's Ballon d'Or reference time is until the end of the Women's World Cup, that is, July 31, 2022. This means that the performance of the 2022 World Cup will have nothing to do with the 2022 Ballon d'Or selection.
Therefore, the author believes that Benzema is scheduled for the 2022 Golden Globes, and there is almost no suspense. (Supine Braces/Qiu Yixi)