The class of KB9 - Manu Reino / SOPA Images / Sipa US / SIPA

  • At the height of his art, Karim Benzema is currently carrying Real Madrid to a new title of champion of Spain.
  • The opportunity to ask the consultant BeIN Sport for the Spanish championship, Omar Da Fonseca, what he sees in this player.

It is not because French football has moved away from him a little that we should not pay him a tribute to the height of his talent. Hero of Real Madrid since the recovery of the La Liga, Karim Benzema is on his way to offer himself the title of champion of Spain at club Merengue. He lives, at 33, his "best season", according to Omar Da Fonseca. A privileged spectator in his role as consultant for the French La Liga broadcaster, BeIN Sports, the Argentinian consultant defines with us what the player Benzema represents on a football field and what he will leave to the history of the game. is bound to be full of truths, strange metaphors and poetry.

What did you see in Benzema's incredible heeling against Espanyol?

A control of his body and a player invaded with confidence. We say "yes there was only that to do" but he feels the thing from the start. It is him with his knowledge, his virtuosity, who can tempt him when other players would have made a trekking to themselves. Karim represents the player who exceeds his position, his influence, his status in the team. When you have the number 9 in the back, in 99.9% of the teams, you first try to conclude. It is said that the center-fronts are selfish, obsessed with the goal, that it is in the nature of the post. But he is a player who when he receives the ball, does not ask the reduced question of where the cage is. He can afford it thanks to his range of technical gestures but also because he knows what is being played well at all times. Besides, he could play in all areas of the game, defender, midfielder, because it is above all a ball handler, who has acquired intelligence, maturity and a way of being released. Before there was Higuain, Adebayor, Ronaldo… Today we made him feel that he was the leader and he is comforted in there, we feel him quite appeased. He has so many strengths that he is never in doubt.

[⚽ VIDEO GOAL] 🇪🇸
🇫🇷 What a great inspiration from Karim Benzema!
😍 Lonely, KB9 realizes a high class heeling towards the axis which mystifies the defense of Espanyol
🎯 Casemiro resumes and concretizes with a powerful strike! Https: //t.co/9HSaixdcQq

- beIN SPORTS (@beinsports_FR) June 28, 2020

You said live that he "plays with a tuxedo" ...

Yes because I never see Benzema in close combat with a defender, and in the sector where he plays, it's hard. He should have defenders on his neck constantly, take the pressure. It's hard to fault him, I never saw him take an attack! He plays with the hat, the cane and the shoes that shine, in elegance, in subtlety. I've never seen him play a simulation or take the lead with a defender, as you can see 1,000 times making a Suarez. Benzema, it floats, it slides, it's a gazelle. With Real, he lives his best season: he is leader, icon, scorer, passer, initiator ... If Real is champion and they pass against City in the Champions League [1-2 defeat in the round of 16 go before the health crisis], the Golden Ball can be offered to him…

To this extend ?

Yes. We can find flats and say that there is more nobody in the Spanish championship, etc. But Real gave him the piano to be Mozart. Until then, he had never been Mozart, he had never been conductor, he was first cello. There Real gave him the keys, the key ring and the automatic beep. He never wanted to frame the others or give a few instructions, but without wanting to show it. A sign: he is not fighting to pull the penos, any other attacker wants to pull the penos. When you compare him to other players who sell a little smoke and who make technical gestures, he never needed anything other than making his football available. He's always been the best striker. Not necessarily the best center forward, but the most complete attacker in what is called intrinsic quality, with perhaps Lewandowski.

He lets his game speak for him, finally?

Here. I would say it was someone who made football grow. He dignified it. He has acts of greatness in the way he plays, in the way he does things. Without claiming it. In his history at Real, he went through very hard moments, when he was not a titular, that Mourinho had called him a little cat, but he never needed to be in the noise or in the scandal. He never needed to do anything but put on his shirt.

The Spanish media have linked some of Benzema's technical masterpieces to works of art. Is he an artist footballer?

Yes. I come from a culture where you always ask yourself “what can I invent or do differently?”. I am against all the ways of stereotyping or mechanizing football that coaches want to sell us. And there are more and more players who play to please their coach, I stay on the right because he told me to stay on the right even if I am useless. He goes beyond this framework. Not everyone can do it, it is those who are gifted who can do it, when they have to do it. He does things that we don't see all the time, that belong to very closed circles, invention, intuition, inspiration. Even if it's a game, it belongs to an art gallery.

Pic | Benzema vs Atlético Madrid pic.twitter.com/KwIHRfEzha

- RMadrid Info Help (@RMadridInfoHelp) May 10, 2017

Karim Benzema is not a real n ° 9, but not really a 10 either, let alone a "nine and a half" like Platini was. In fact, he invented a post?

Absolutely. In the chain of development of an action, he can do everything: at the very beginning, at the very end and in the middle. Often, it is said that versatility diminishes strengths. Not him. He has 9 or 10 in all attributes: head game, kick, number of races ... This year, he came close to 10 in several games, because he did everything alone at Real. He is an all terrain player, an all options player with electric windows and four wheel drive.

We are not talking about her agreement with Zinedine Zidane, but she gives the impression of being united from the outside…

There is a reciprocal understanding, reciprocal friendship, a way of feeling football, they are necessarily united. Benzema will never want Zizou to be in trouble, he will be able to influence his teammates so that it does not happen. And the reverse is the same. This relationship, as Messi had with Guardiola, is very rare, especially without harming the rest of the group. But this Benzema-Zidane relationship is a relationship that pulls up the team, the club, the supporters. They beat everyone's distrust. In Spain, no one is going to criticize either. And that's not nothing, it's super hard to get, especially among the rivals. But there is no longer a guy from Barcelona to say that Zidane is shit, or else he has to go to the ophthalmologist. Karim is the same.

If he had a defect on the ground, what would it be?

You never see him scoring unattractive goals, you know, hooking goals with a feeling of bad taste, bad breath, a sharp Suarez.

Now that we have just praised Benzema and we know that you adore Messi more than anything in the world: if ever tomorrow you had to choose between him and Benzema as holder in the World Cup final, who would you?

(He laughs) If it's a team where we have no other creative, I take Messi because he can dribble three, four guys all by himself. But if I know the ball will come, I put Karim.

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