The best ever .. Zidane identifies 3 reasons for his adherence to Benzema

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane described his striker Karim Benzema as the best French striker of all time, after scoring twice to lead the defending champions to a 3-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Football League on Tuesday.

Real Madrid played 77 minutes with numerical superiority after the dismissal of Bilbao player Raul Garcia, but the visiting team did not make things easy for the defending champions, and Andir Capa scored in the second half to cancel Zidane's team's lead with a Tony Croce goal.

But Benzema showed his abilities towards the end, sending Real Madrid back to the front with a header after a cross from Danny Carvajal, before clinching victory with the third goal after a quick counter-attack in stoppage

time.

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@Benzema, @ToniKroos and @thibautcourtois lead @realmadriden to victory!

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📺 #RealMadridAthletic pic.twitter.com/R3uTKyYRaX

- LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) December 15, 2020

The coach was asked if his compatriot was the best French striker ever after the match, and Zidane showed no doubts about this assumption.

"For me he is the best because he spent a long time at Real Madrid and continues to prove himself. He has played more than 500 matches and scored many goals. His achievements speak for themselves. For me he is of course the best," Zidane told a press conference.

Benzema became Real Madrid's top scorer since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018, but he has not played for France since 2015 after an incident in which his then-national teammate Matteo Valbuena was also involved.

But Zidane still considers him in a higher position than France's legends Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet, and current strikers Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe.

"He is a more complete player now than he was in the past. He is not the 9th striker frankly, he just doesn't think about scoring goals and that is what I love about him," the French coach added.

"He loves to cooperate with his colleagues and create opportunities for them, and he also knows how to score goals, and he does that when the team needs him, as happened today. This is Karim," he said.