Benzema: the legacy of Benitez

Something good, or very good, that Benitez left behind from his unfortunate spell at Madrid is the change in Benzema. Upon his arrival he stated that he sought to encourage him to score more goals, andset a target of 25. It doesn’t seem extraordinary that the centre forward for Madrid would have this target,in itself it is not ambitious, but Benzema wasn’t scoring many goals. It’s true that he was playing very well and was linking up much of the play. But he scored very few goals, many fewer than is expected of a Real Madrid striker. His indifference to it was remarkable .

The change can be attributed to Benitez who announced as much his intention, and indeed, Benzema is a different player this year. Without losing the other parts of his game, connecting the play, he is now interested in the finishing off the play and has the accuracy to go with it. He already has 21 goals in 20 games. He has notched up more in La Liga than Cristianohimself, and he’s the one that takes penalties. Moreover, out of nowhere, he seems to have changed his attitude. A player with an exasperating air of nonchalance to his game now looks interested, has ambitions to get on the scoresheet, and celebrates each goal with a new exuberance which we saw in Seville when he went to get the ball from the net to allow a quick restart.

This Benzema is a cut above the previous one. He has now added the practical to the beautiful. For Madrid this couldn’t be better timed, just when Cristiano’s goals have become more sporadic, and who knows for how long. He hasn’t scored in 12 of his 21 games. He has many goals but several have come in particular games when he turns it on, but we can’t now say as before, that with him on the field that Madrid will take the game one-nil. He looks nervous, he has escaped some little, and not so little, tantrums which could have resulted in costly expulsions. As it stands, Benzema is the more influential forward.