Real Madrid superstar Karim Benzema breaks silence on 2022 Ballon d'Or after arriving at red carpet
Real Madrid superstar Karim Benzema finally talked about the 2022 Ballon d'Or award.
Benzema is the favorite to win the trophy after enjoying a stunning season last term. He scored 44 goals and provided 16 assists in 46 games across competitions for Los Blancos.
The Madrid giants also lifted the La Liga and UEFA Champions League trophies last season.
Benzema arrived in Paris for the Ballon d'Or ceremony and when quizzed by the media on the red carpet, the forward said (via theMadridZone):
“Happy to be here, it's my first time. Hope to have a great news tonight.”
🎙️| Karim Benzema : “Happy to be here, it's my first time. Hope to have a great news tonight.” #rmalive
The striker was on the scoresheet against as Los Blancos defeated Barcelona in El Clasico on October 16. The France international scored the opener for his team.
Karim Benzema was out for a while after picking up an injury in Real Madrid's opening Champions League game of the season against Celtic. However, he has since returned to the team. Overall, he has scored five goals and provided one assist in ten games so far.
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti reacted to Karim Benzema's performance against Barcelona
Real Madrid moved three points clear of Barcelona with their 3-1 win at the Santiago Bernabeu. Los Blancos are yet to taste defeat this season and now have 25 points from their first nine league games of the season.
While talking to the media after the game, Carlo Ancelotti reacted to Karim Benzema's performance, saying (via the club's official website):
“He looked good in training and he’ll make progress on his fitness. He put in a good performance, got his goal and was important for us. I hope he wins the Ballon d’Or and we’ll congratulate him because it is in a way a Ballon d’Or for us”.
The Italian further added about his team's performance:
"We've taken all three points from a strong team in this competition who are doing well this season. Barcelona are a good side with plenty of strengths. It's a long season and there's a lot of games still to play. We're happy with our performance."
He spoke about the dynamics of the match:
"We kept on the front foot right until the end and wanted to win the game. You can't play with that intensity from the first half all the time. We wanted to rotate players earlier, but we had the game under control and didn't want to change the dynamic. Barcelona pushed on a bit more in the second half. We didn't play out as well as we did in the first half, but we didn't have too much to worry about at the back.”