French striker Karim Benzema bagged the prestigious Ballon d'Or award in Paris on Monday for a brilliant 2021/22 season with his club Real Madrid. The 34-year-old quipped "age is just a number" after he won the award and became the oldest footballer to do so in 66 years, since Stanley Matthews in 1956. Benzema beat Sadio Mané, who played for Liverpool during the assessment period before joining Bayern Munich in the summer, and Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne.
He became the first French player to win this award since Zinedine Zidane in 1998, who incidentally presented the award to him in the star-studded ceremony. The other French players to have held the golden ball are Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini, and Jean-Pierre Papin.
He deservedly won the award as he inspired Real Madrid to a successful season. The 2021/22 season was Benzema's best in his career, as he scored 44 goals across competitions including 15 in the successful Champions League campaign. He top-scored in La Liga and the Champions League, helping Real Madrid conquer both competitions. He also has 15 assists to his name across all competitions.
Let us look at some stats that show why Benzema was ahead of the rest.
Benzema's 44 goals and 15 assists in 46 appearances across competitions for Real Madrid in 2021-22 meant he contributed to a goal ever 66.42 minutes.
Benzema scored or assisted a goal in 32 of those 46 appearances.
Benzema made more goal contributions than Robert Lewandowski (57), Mohamed Salah (47), Erling Haaland (37), and Ciro Immobile (36).
Benzema contributed to 48.75% of Real Madrid's haul in La Liga (Spanish league) in 2021-22 with 27 goals and 12 assists.
Benzema finished top scorer in La Liga (27), nine ahead of Iago Aspas in second, and finished second in the assists chart (12) behind FC Barcelona's Ousmane Dembele.
Benzema's 15 goals in the Champions League is the joint-third most in a single season.
Benzema scored more Champions League goals than 23 of the teams that played in the competition. Big teams such as Juventus, Manchester United, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Inter, and Borussia Dortmund score fewer goals.
His 15 goals and two assists in the Champions League meant he was directly involved in goal contributions for Real Madrid every 65 minutes in the competition.
He scored 10 goals during the knockout stages of the Champions League (Round-of-16 and beyond), which is the joint-most in a season along with Cristiano Ronaldo in 2016-17.
Benzema is only the fourth player to score in both legs (home and away) of the quarter-final and semi-final in the same Champions League season. The others to do it are Fernando Morientes, Neymar, and Edin Dzeko.
Benzema scored consecutive hat-tricks in the Champions League season, becoming only the second player to do so after Cristiano Ronaldo, who did so in 2017 against Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid
Benzema became Real Madrid's second-highest goalscorer in Champions League with 74 goals, surpassing Raul's goal tally (71) in 135 fewer appearances.
He became only the fourth player to top-score in both the Champions League and La Liga during the same season.
Benzema registered six goals and one assist for France in 10 games, during the assessment period, including the equalising goal against Spain in the UEFA Nations League final that France won.
Redemption complete
Having lived in Cristiano Ronaldo's shadow since their moves to Real Madrid in 2009, Benzema's success is long overdue. However, this success marks the French striker's redemption for a different reason.
He was put in exile for five and a half years due to his involvement in the blackmail sextape controversy, which also involved his former France teammate Mathieu Valbuena. This exile coincided with France's triumphant 2018 World Cup campaign, as he was recalled only in mid 2021 to the national team.
Benzema went to trial in late 2021 and was given a "one-year suspended prison sentence" along with a 75,000-Euros fine. He decided not to appeal the judgment and went on to inspire Real Madrid to a successful season.
The 34-year-old will be looking forward to next month's World Cup in Qatar, and will be crucial to France's defence of its title.
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