Ballon D’Or 2022: Why Karim Benzema Deserves The Award More Than Anyone Else

Ballon D'Or 2022: Throughout the season, Karim Benzema has been a stand-out performer, and has taken Real Madrid to new heights. In this article, we look at why he deserves the prestigious Ballon D'Or.

Delhi: With the Ballon D’Or ready to be handed to its eventual victor on 17th October 2022 for the 65th time, the French Football Federation will be preparing to hand out voting ballots to journalists across 180 countries, to select their top five picks for the players who they think had the best season. They will hope it is less controversial than the previous two editions. They cancelled the award in 2020 due to Covid-19, despite most leagues finishing their season, much to football fans’ despair, who felt Robert Lewandowski was robbed of the award. Even in 2021, as people felt the Polish front-man deserved it, the award was given to Argentine forward Lionel Messi. Votes were leaked of that year, with queer voting cards coming to light. However, in 2022, the winner should be only one man. And that man is Real Madrid and France forward Karim Benzema. In this article, we detail why he deserves it.

1. Goals and goal contributions

Throughout the season, Benzema made 46 appearances for “Los Blancos”, despite being 34 years old. However, he contributed 44 goals and 15 assists in those appearances. A total of 59 contributions in 46 games played. That gives him an average of 1.28 goal contributions per match. These are figures you would normally see the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi putting up. The Frenchman’s direct rival’s stats are incomparable to him. Cristiano Ronaldo has an average of 0.61 goal contributions per match, Lionel Messi has an average of 0.76 goal contributions per match. The only one close is Robert Lewandowski, with an average of 1.23 goal contributions per match.

2. Off the ball

Despite his age, Karim Benzema still has a lot left in him. Even if he doesn’t get a goal or assist, the Real Madrid forward certainly helped his team-mates flourish throughout the season, and his career. The Real Madrid vice-captain spent a lot of time on the left wing, allowing Vinicius Junior to dart infield, a simple move that brought out the best of the Brazilian wonder-kid. He also dropped as deep as the midfield rather than staying in line with the opposition defense like most strikers would. This allowed him to pick up the ball in deep areas and drive Real forward, a move that helped the Spanish giants even in the Champions League final. This also helps Real break a high press, where their defense gets pushed by the opposition, and encouraged to make mistakes. By dropping deep, he gives his defenders an extra passing outlet to get the ball away from direct danger while keeping possession of the ball.

3. Showing up in key moments

Throughout the campaign, Benzema has been a source of magic, especially when Real needed it most. For instance, against Sevilla. With the game tied at 2-2 in the dying seconds after Real clawed back from 2-0 down, Benzema gets on the end of a pass and finishes calmly to seal the victory. His magic hat, though, was at its maximum power in the Champions League knockouts. He got a hat-trick against PSG to turn the game around following a 1-0 loss to the Paris outfit in the first leg, another hat-trick against Chelsea in the very next game to send Real back to the Santiago Bernabeu with a 3-1 lead, the eventual winning goal against Chelsea in the second leg, a brace against Manchester City in the first leg (which included a brilliant panenka penalty), and the eventual winning goal in the second leg. Despite not scoring in the final, he registered a brilliant performance with his runs and energy throughout.

This season, he won the treble of the Champions League, La Liga, and Spanish Super Cup with Real Madrid. He also was the top scorer in La Liga with 27 goals, and the top scorer in the Champions League with 15 goals. He certainly elevated his game by a large notch, and deserves the award as recognition.

Written by Purv Ashar