Karim Benzema: the tribute to Tupac Amaru Shakur and what was not seen after receiving the Ballon d’Or

“All’alba won! won! vincerò!” says the last verse of Turandot, the Puccini opera that Andrea Bocelli has just performed. It is a caress in a silent theater. Also an electric shock that rose in the room where the Ballon d’Or 2022 will be delivered in a few minutes, so powerful that it crosses the television screen and reaches here. Like a goal.

Vinceró! win!” it is heard and it is a foretaste of joy: the camera then focuses on the monster Karim Benzema and yes, he has won.

Eighty-one kilograms in a body of 185 centimeters confirm that on the court he does not step, he crushes. This 2022 was a tractor: League Champion being MVP and scorer. Champion of the Champions being MVP and scorer. Champion of the Spanish Super Cup scoring in the semis and final. UEFA Nations League Champion. It was Messi and Cristiano together. Despite the physique of muay thai, he understands the change of speed as a weapon that rivals still do not guess. Karim Benzema is quick for almost everything: stacking, rearranging, finishing first. Part of the catalog suffered a few weeks ago by all the goalkeepers he faced in the Champions League. Although tonight at the Chatelet theater in Paris, where some organizing genius has placed all the jewels that inhabit this world on velvet seats -it could be called a diamond but its name is Figo, it could be a pearl but we call it Zidane-, the striker Real Madrid’s Frenchman looks like an elegant groom who is going to marry the love of his life. In this case, the bathed ball that is the Ballon d’Or trophy.

Excited giant, seen from TV here in Lima it seems that only a demolition machine could knock him down and it seems, in any game, that he slides on a skateboard. That is the unique condition of him, of tank and bicycle. Because of that combo, his leadership and influence, and his 328 goals in 615 games after 14 seasons with Madrid, his dream year, today is the just Ballon d’Or 2022.

—The new times—

Perhaps it is a nostalgic perception, but someone was missing from the gala. Half the planet will say Lionel Messi, the other Cristiano Ronaldo. South America and Europe, as always, in versus. Instead there was another impressive duo, sitting side by side: el Fenónemo Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane. A tweet from Olé from Argentina summed up the absence of the captain of the Argentine national team: “The CM reminds you that Mess has more ballon d’or than the 30 that make up the list for this year’s edition… together.” For CR7 there was only lukewarm news: he was ranked 20th among the nominees. Sign of the new times. Announcement to begin to miss.

Where there was unanimity was in the applause for Alexia Putellas, the women’s Barcelona captain, who won the Ballon d’Or for the second time in a row and became the best player of the season. An example. And in gratitude to Sadio Mané, who lifted the 2022 Socrates Prize as the most supportive footballer of recent times. Compacts with his phrases would have to be transmitted in all the schools of the world.

the grateful son

Embraced by his mother, Wahida Djebbara, whom he invited on stage to receive the Ballon d’Or, and focused on the foreground to wear a particular outfit – black jacket and pants, accompanied by a button bow tie and Lennon-type glasses, a tribute to Tupac Amaru Shakur, one of the most influential artists in the history of rap in the 80s and 90s, murdered at the age of 25-, Karim Benzema thanked in French for the goal accomplished. “It’s the people’s Ballon d’Or. This is the dream of every child, but it is also a lot of work and there are also many difficult moments, like when he couldn’t go to the national team. But I didn’t fall apart, I kept working, thinking that I was lucky to play football. I am proud of my career.”

Karim Benzema has won the 2022 Ballon d’Or. League Champion being MVP and top scorer. Champion of the Champions being MVP and scorer. He only needed to win the e-sports championships. And in that luxury, simplicity and gratitude. The true champions are like that and that is why they are so few.

LEARN MORE ABOUT TUPAC AMARU SHAKUR