Karim Benzema, a player “inhabited by light” for commentators

He had dreamed of it last year before finishing at the foot of the podium, a little disappointed, and us with it. But the dazzling season of Karim Benzema, top scorer in the Spanish league and the Champions League, leaves no choice to the jurors of the Ballon d’Or. The now legendary striker of the real Madrid will become the first French player to receive the supreme award since his former coach Zinedine Zidane, in 1998. Twenty-four years of waiting for a vertiginous explosion of the senses late in life. For a long time, KB9 broadcast the idea of ​​a part-time talent, before rising to an unsuspected dimension. ” 20 minutes » devotes a series of articles to him before D-Day. Third episode this Sunday: Benzema seen by those who have commented on some of his most memorable actions.

They were there, at the stadium, to tell the extraordinary behind their microphone. To make fans experience a moment they will remember, a pass, a feint, a crazy gesture, a goal that no one believed in anymore and that changes a season. A pleasure, of course, but also a responsibility. Because when we replay the actions, once, twice, a hundred times, the commentary is sometimes worth as much as the gesture itself. As the volley of Pavard is inseparable from the voice of Grégoire Margotton, for example.

To pay tribute to Karim Benzema, we summoned four men who spent hours observing and describing the phenomenon. Canal+ commentator Paul Tchoukriel, those of beIN Sports Eric Di Meco and Omar da Fonseca, and finally that of Real Madrid TV, David Alvarez Izquierdo. Everyone delivers their version of Nueve, drawn from a moment of grace or a feeling during a match.

• The round of 16 return against PSG last season (triple for Benzema in fifteen minutes), by Paul Tchoukriel

“My most memorable memory of Benzema is his third goal in that game. It is the one that most symbolizes the course of the people of Madrid. It’s an instinctive goal, while Real are in a kind of trance moment. He has just scored the second, and the devil comes out of his box by striking with the outside of the right foot to score. He could have tried any gesture, it would have gone in. He was so irresistible that he could do anything, he was sure to go to the bottom. The difference with Benzema [par rapport à d’autres grands joueurs], it’s his guiding side, the strength he exudes, and the fact that he is always fair in what he does. If you are a young player and you want to play football, you have to watch Benzema. He is fair, never selfish. He always favors the game, he respects it. »

• The famous dribble along the line against Atlético Madrid in the 2016-2017 C1 semi-final return (and a little more of course), by Omar da Fonseca

“On this action, Karim made me get up from my chair. I really have the impression that at times he plays in a tuxedo and with shiny shoes. He is a player inhabited by light. He knows what he has to do in the right tempo, there is a harmony. It is an emotional facilitator. It’s not easy to constantly express class on a pitch, and he plays a football of elegance and subtlety. He keeps a closed, serious face. He is a player who reconciles you with the passion for football. It has beautiful efficiency.

You can see that many of the goals he scores are prepared, he anticipates them, it looks like he has already imagined them during the week. The gestures are often very natural, very relaxed. It’s not Haaland. No, Benzema belongs more to the caste of Van Basten, Lewandowski, this kind of player who shines a light, who knows how to play, combine, make one-twos. They can play with their backs to goal, they can score goals where there’s a dribble, a control, a forward fake. »

• Last season’s completely lunar LdC final phase, by Eric Di Meco

“I have a memory of the game at City where, while his friends are moving there and they put their heads down, he is the one who is going to do the pressing and who encourages them to do the same to go up up a notch. Moreover, he then recovers a ball on a Real goal. I remember writing it down and saying it in my live commentary. It is he who launches the rebellion each time, because he felt touched by grace. And then there is obviously the memory of this Panenka…

It’s hard to say that Messi or Ronaldo did what Benzema did because they had Iniesta and Xavi, or Kroos, Casemiro and Modric who were there in the middle and had huge influence. I don’t even know how far you would have to go to find a single player who has carried a team to this point. There, when you look closely, Real was very average in the 8th and quarters. In half, they are walked on. This title is surreal.

Commenting on him at the Bernabeu is special. I saw the difference between the start when I was going to comment there, where he was Cristiano’s servant, and last year. He had to go get it, this status, because it wasn’t won. »

• The attitude of leadership, by David Alvarez Izquierdo

“At almost 35, he is still enjoying an ascending career, which happens to few players. Last season, Karim was a leader. But not just that of a team: that of the club, of the Bernabeu. I remember that when Real Madrid equalized against City [en demi-finale retour], Bernardo Silva looks at Karim in midfield, as if to say: “But what is going on?”, and Karim “answers” ​​him: “That is what is happening here”. Last season was total madness and we will never experience the same season again. PSG, Chelsea, City, we will tell all that to our grandchildren. I’ve been commentating on matches for 18 years and I thought I had experienced everything with this club. But last year, what Karim and Real Madrid did… (He blows). I never thought I would experience this. It is impossible to overcome. We will never forget what Benzema did.

If there’s one image I have to take away from all of this, it’s Karim’s raised fist, bandaged hand, staring at the Bernabeu, after equalizing against PSG, as if he knew what was going to happen. And he did the same against Chelsea and City. You looked at Karim’s head, you knew what was going to happen next. That sticks in my mind more than his decisive goals in those games. »