Karim Benzema and his matches against Peruvians: 17 goals in 12 games, a historic defeat and a shirt in his closet

Karim Benzema He has been born many times, almost as many times as he has died. There is no footballer in the world who has traveled from heaven to hell —and vice versa— As much as the. “Game for those who know football”once said by way of defense the ‘9’ that has coexisted between reproaches, oblivion, praise and that today, after starring in another magical night of Champions against Manchester City with a double to keep Madrid alive despite losing 4-3, he has been nominated by his teammate Vinícius Jr. for the Ballon d’Or. Although, to tell the truth, the Brazilian said in a mixed zone what the world of football thinks about these moments.

Karim is one of a kind, a total football player. He presses, thinks, dribbles, holds, finishes off, generates, assists, heads and all the verbs related to this sport that can be said. In addition, he has the quality and hierarchy to kick the ball to Antonin Panenka in the 82nd minutewith the score against him and before more than 50 thousand Englishmen booing him and trying to distract him.

Karim arrived in the Spanish capital in July 2009, after shining with Olympique de Lyon and winning eight titles (four Ligue 1, four French Super Cups and one French Cup; times in which PSG and its petrodollars had not yet dominated ). Since then he has added 13 seasons to become the third top scorer in merengue history. And since then he has also faced Peruvian soccer players who played in La Liga or the Champions League.

A Bicentennial practice that we Peruvians have is, precisely, to Peruvianize. That is why we are now going through the cases, one by one, of Benzema vs. our compatriots. Let’s keep in mind that the “Gato” could be the rival of the Peruvian team in the Qatar 2022 World Cup, if the Bicolor overcomes the playoff.

How did Karim Benzema vs. Peruvians in La Liga?

The first on the list is Santiago Acasiete. The center-back played for Almería between 2004 and 2012, between remembered campaigns in La Liga alongside Unai Emery — a coach who today will seek the feat with Villarreal against Liverpool in the Champions League — and relegation to the second division. Although the only record of ‘Santi’ against Benzema’s Real Madrid was on December 4, 2009.

At the Santiago Bernabéu, the merengue squad then led by Chilean Manuel Pellegrini won 4-2 with goals from Sergio Ramos, Gonzalo Higuaín, Cristiano Ronaldo and, yes, Karim Benzema, who was looking for his best goalscoring form. The match would have gone unnoticed if it weren’t for ‘CR7’ receiving his first red card as a white footballer after receiving two yellow cards. “Cristiano expels himself”, headlined the renowned newspaper Marca in its web edition.

It took seven long years for a Peruvian to face Real Madrid in the Spanish championship. Juan Manuel Vargas lived in Real Betis the last experience of him in his journey through European football. On October 23, 2016, the Betis team, with the side as a starter, received Zinedine Zidane’s Madrid who had won the first of their three consecutive Champions Leagues and had Cristiano, James Rodríguez and Benzema in attack.

The match at Benito Villamarín had started in the best way for the Verdiblancos thanks to Cejudo’s goal. But in the second half, minutes after Vargas was booked, Karim Benzema took advantage of an assist from James to seal the 1-1. The ‘Gato’ again scoring against the team of a compatriot of ours.

In July 2018, after the World Cup in Russia, Luis Advíncula signed for Rayo Vallecano. In the first of his three seasons, and the only one in La Liga, the right-back collided only once against Real Madrid. It was on December 14 of that same year, a couple of months after the white cast celebrated a thousand days as king of Europe and the day Luka Modric showed his Ballon d’Or in front of his stadium.

At the Santiago Bernabéu, ‘Lucho’ played as a midfielder on the right with the aim of supporting winger Tito on the mark. However, they couldn’t beat Benzema, who scored the only goal of the game. Three of three for the French against ours.

Renato Tapia is the last Peruvian to suffer against Madrid and Benzema. In fact, the midfielder, who has spent two seasons at Celta de Vigo, played all four league games against the team from the Spanish capital: all of them ended in defeat. And the ‘Gato’ scored seven goals (two braces and a treble), in addition to giving two assists.

Dulanto, the only one who stopped him

In the Champions League the story was almost the same. First, in 2014, Schalke 04 of Jefferson Farfan lost 6-1 to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu for the round of 16. The goals came thanks to the ‘BBC’: two from Bale, two from Benzema and another two from Cristiano Ronaldo.

In 2015, a year later, it was the turn of Yoshimar Yotun and Malmo. The Peruvian played in the two group games with two defeats: 8-0 at the Bernabéu with the Frenchman’s hat-trick and 2-0 in Sweden, a duel in which he was sent off for a double yellow card.

This season, on the second date of the group stage, Gustavo Dulanto’s humble Sheriff gave one of the greatest blows in the history of the Champions League by beating Real Madrid 2-1 at the very Santiago Bernabéu. Already in the second leg they lost 3-0 with a goal from the Frenchman.

In that historic match, Karim also scored so as not to lose his habit, but it was annulled by Dulanto, whom he anticipated twice. Even before the ‘9’ scored the transitory penalty tie, the Peruvian approached him to try to make him nervous, although he failed in the mission. “Before he kicked the penalty I told him ‘I don’t know what to say to make you nervous’ and he started laughing. They are world-class players, I wanted to make him nervous, but what can you say to Benzema?told in a brief interview with the Spanish media El Chiringuito.

Dulanto may be the only Peruvian who wakes up with Karim Benzema’s shirt in his closet. And the French keep that of the Peruvian. The Peruvian sees today how the crack that once gave him his ‘9’, perhaps as a way of respect for the great game he gave him, is in the Olympus of football, being the scorer in the Champions League with 14 goals and the first in pass the 40 celebrations (he has 41) in Madrid after Cristiano Ronaldo and a firm candidate to win the Ballon d’Or.