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Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema expected to win Ballon d’Or


Karim Benzema Real Madrid

Real Madrid’s French striker Karim Benzema controls the ball during the UEFA Champions League Group F first round match between Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk, at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on October 5, 2022. Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP)

Karim Benzema was the favorite as he won the Men’s Ballon d’Or at a ceremony in Paris on Monday and thus became the first French player to win the most prestigious individual award in football since Zinedine Zidane. Zidane almost a quarter of a century ago.

There are 30 nominees, but the Real Madrid forward is the front-runner after remarkable performances last season that helped his club win the Champions League and La Liga.

Benzema has scored 44 goals in 46 games for his club, including 15 in the Champions League.

His exploits included a hat-trick in 17 minutes of the second half against Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16, and another hat-trick against Chelsea in the quarter-final first leg. He also scored three more goals in both legs of the semi-final against Manchester City.

Benzema was named UEFA Player of the Year in August, and he is living a great sunset in his career with the upcoming World Cup.

Formerly a pariah, dropped from the France team for 5 and a half years for being involved in scandal of extortion over a sex tape in regards to teammate Mathieu Valbuena, Benzema has put that behind him and is playing the best football of his career with his 35th birthday approaching a day after the World Cup final.

“The most important thing for me is to win collective titles. If you do everything well on the pitch, individual awards follow,” Benzema pointed out recently.

His victory at the Chatelet Theater in the French capital seemed inevitable.

“If they don’t cancel it then maybe he will win this Ballon d’Or,” Barcelona forward Robert Lewandowski said this week.

It was a joke from Pole, who would certainly have been crowned in 2020 if that year’s awards weren’t canceled due to the pandemic.

No Messi

Normal service was restored last year when Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or for the seventh time, but he was not even nominated this time after a disappointing season at Paris Saint-Germain.

Cristiano Ronaldo is nominated but there is no Neymar on the list.

In addition to Benzema, there are four other members of Real’s Champions League winning team: Vinicius, Luka Modric, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and midfielder Casemiro, currently playing for Manchester United.

Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Lewandowski and Kevin De Bruyne were also present, but Benzema stood out from a distance.

If Benzema wins, he will be the fifth Frenchman to do so, after Raymond Kopa in 1958, Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985), Jean-Pierre Papin (1991) and Zidane (1998).

The award was previously based on a player’s performance throughout the calendar year.

But the format has changed, with awards now based on a player’s performance in the previous season.

Putellas to retain the women’s award?

There is little certainty about the identity of what will be the fourth Women’s Ballon d’Or.

Three members of England’s European Championship-winning team made the shortlist of 20 candidates.

Lucy Bronze and Millie Bright are both named, but Arsenal striker Beth Mead is the brightest candidate after scoring six goals at the Euros.

Australia’s Sam Kerr and German duo Lena Oberdorf and Alexandra Popp could also have a claim, but it could also be again Spain’s Alexia Putellas, who won last year.

The 28-year-old is currently recovering from a serious knee injury that caused her to miss the Euros with Spain and means she is unlikely to feature this season.

Putellas, who followed in the footsteps of Ada Hegerberg and Megan Rapinoe by winning a year ago, led Barcelona to last season’s Champions League final as well as a domestic league and a trophy double.

She is the Champions League top scorer with 11 goals, although her club lost to Lyon in the final.

The winners will also receive a digital token (NFT) to go with their glittering trophies, while the organizers of France Football magazine have also added a new humanitarian prize.

It is named after Socrates, the former Brazilian midfielder who also holds a medical degree.

The award “will determine the best social initiative of the committed champions,” France Football said.

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