Karim Benzema and the Ballon d’Or: three books and a series that explain why he is the best 9 in the world

Eighty-one kilograms in a body of 185 centimeters confirm that on the court he does not step, he crushes. And that, despite the physique of muay thai, he understands the change of speed as a weapon that rivals still do not guess. Karim Benzema he is fast for almost everything: stacking, rearranging, finishing first. Part of the catalog was suffered a few weeks ago by all the central defenders in the Champions League. It seems that they could only knock him down by pulling him from a tractor and it seems, in the same match, that he skates. Although he looks beaten, I lame. That is the unique condition of him, of tank and bicycle.

That is why he has just entered the top 3 of the best strikers in the history of Madrid, after surpassing the man who invented the club in the 20th century, Alfredo Di Stéfano. And at 34 years old, it sounds like Benzema has energy for 30 more. This Monday was the celebration of his greatness: he won the 2022 Ballon d’Or, a trophy that was given to him by the man who reinvented French football in the 90s, Zinedine Zidano.

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From Peru, these strikers are looked at with fascination and even envy: what do they eat to be like that. In fact, today that the critics discuss whether the Franco-Algerian Karim Benzema (Lyon, 1987) is the best 9 in the world -although the Ballon d’Or already ends them-, it is a healthy exercise to go to literature, to film archives ,

“Benzema. The class in the area”, is a book written by the Spanish journalist José Luis Guerrero published in 2013. It is revealed as a journalistic x-ray of the career of a player with exceptional talent. You can find or make inquiries at Librería Crisol de Perú here.

Karim Benzema: A raw talent (Editorial Solar, 2010), is a beautiful French edition by the author Luca Caioli that can be ordered from Peru via Amazon. In 257 pages, Benzema appears as a young man who arrives at the greatest galaxy of world football, Madrid, to train with Cristiano Ronaldo, the greatest of all.

The exciting DeContra Bookstore, specialized in football books in Peru, has in its catalog 365 Stories of Real Madrid, by Sergio Galán, a compendium on the influence of the merengue club in the history of sport, and has a section on Benzema. It is requested here.

Finally, and for those who want the complete movie, in May 2018 Netflix added a very special one dedicated to Karim Benzema to its catalogue. Real Madrid’s French striker himself promoted the launch of the Le K Benzemaa documentary film about his life.

Cat or Man of Steel, to understand these phenomena you need to look at them, but also read them. What they do is also poetry.