Real Madrid center-forward, Karim Benzema has been named the 2022 UEFA Champions League player of the season after leading the Spanish club to win the tournament this season.
Recall that Real Madrid heavily depended on the brilliance of the 34-year-old French striker to make progress in this season’s UEFA Champions League campaign.
🥇 UEFA's Technical Observer panel have named Real Madrid's Karim Benzema as the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League Player of the Season 👏👏👏@Benzema | #UCL
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 31, 2022
Karim Benzema played in 12 of the 13 UEFA Champions League games the Spanish club played this season. In 10 out of the 12 games he featured in, Real Madrid won convincingly.
Benzema proved that he is currently the best player in the world in the knockout stages of the Champions League campaign in which Real Madrid met some of the best teams in Europe.
The 34-year-old Frenchman scored a hat-trick against Paris Saint Germain in the round of 16. He stepped up for his team to slam Chelsea four goals in the quarter-final stage.
Benzema did not stop there, he scored three goals against Manchester City to send his team to the final of the Champions League which took place in Paris against Liverpool on May 28, 2022.
As usual, the Frenchman combined very well with Vinicius Junior who scored the sole goal of the Champions League final to earn Real Madrid their record-extending the 14th UEFA Champions League title.
🌟 No surprises…
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) May 31, 2022
👏 @Benzema is the 2021/22 @ChampionsLeague Player of the Season!
⚽ 15 goals (top scorer)#CHAMP14NS | #UCL pic.twitter.com/LZ9Hhd3Kel
Karim Benzema practically won the 2022 Champions League for Real Madrid after scoring 15 goals and providing two assists in the tournament this season.
The 2022 Ballon d’Or is for Karim Benzema
Inarguably, Karim Benzema has outperformed every footballer in the 2021-2022 season and it would be a big surprise if he is not named the winner of the 2022 Ballon d’Or.
Karim Benzema is the only player in the 2021-2022 season to score 44 goals and provide 15 assists in just 46 games in all competitions.
In the same season, he scored 27 goals and provided 12 assists to help Real Madrid win the season’s La Liga title and also finished as La Liga’s top scorer. He also helped Madrid to win the Supercopa in which he scored two goals and provided an assist in 2 games.
To crown it all, he won the Champions League golden boot, the best player in the Champions League, made it into the team of the tournament, and also helped his team to win the Champions League title itself.
As for his national team, Benzema helped France to win the 2021 Nations League and also helped the country to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Hence, if Karim Benzema is not named the 2022 Ballon d’Or winner on October 17, 2022, in Paris, it would be one of the biggest shockers in the history of football.
