Karim Benzema aims to continue scoring run against Real Betis
The Real Madrid frontman has happy memories of his games at the home of Real Betis and will be looked at tonight as a potential saviour once again.
Real Madrid arrive in Seville's neighbourhood of Heliópolis, The City of the Sun, with numerous casualties in attack: Bale, Lucas Vazquez and Asensio all out, while Mariano and Vinicius are both doubts to play. The man, therefore, who will be asked to score the much needed goals will be Karim Benzema, a striker who has inflicted much pain on the Real Betis defence in past visits.
Beastly Benzema at Betis
The Benito Villamarín Stadium has been a happy hunting ground over the years for the Frenchman. He has scored in each of his last four visits to the green and white stadium and his overall record against the Sevillians is seven goals in ten games (0.7 per game).
That return puts Betis as Benzema's eighth favourite victim in LaLiga. The teams that he has had more joy against are Granada and Málaga (ten goals), Barcelona (nine) and Rayo, Getafe, Athletic Club and Sevilla (eight). Among opponents that he has faced at least ten times, only Granada has been punished more, with the number nine scoring ten times in 12 matches (0.83 per game).
Slow start to new year
Benzema started 2019, scoring at the Estadio de la Cerámica, although it wasn't enough to earn his side three points as Madrid drew 2-2 with Villarreal. He was then unable to follow that up with a goal against Real Sociedad, a game Los Blancos lost 0-2. With 12 goals this campaign, the man once described by José Mourinho as a 'hunting cat' will hope to be back on the prowl on Sunday evening.
