• Chronicle Benzema responds to Luis Suárez and writes the last sentence of the derby

  • Controversy. Madrid, annoyed with Hernández Hernández: "It's not new"

  • Opinion: Madrid never dies, Atleti commits suicide

When

Hernández Hernández

whistled the end of the Madrid derby,

Karim Benzema

, a bracelet on his arm, smiled, relieved.

The French striker had returned to

Zinedine Zidane's

eleven

after almost a month burdened by a muscle injury suffered on Thursday

, February 18, in training

.

At the time it seemed like a simple

wake-up call

, some discomfort in the

left adductor muscle

that shouldn't have gotten worse, but the passing days increased the Frenchman's pain and the club's concern.

"

I do not want to risk. I am not going to risk,

" Zidane insisted at a press conference after a press conference.

The French coach has already seen too many injuries, too many rehabilitations and too many relapses.

And Benzema's, along with

Carvajal's

mishap

half an hour into the game against Valencia, put him on notice.

And

Karim didn't force

.

He missed the visit to

Valladolid

, the trip to

Bergamo

for the knockout stages of the Champions League against Atalanta and the Di Stéfano game against

Real Sociedad

.

Three games in which Madrid only scored

three goals

and in which the Whites missed their starting striker a lot.

Casemiro

scored

in Pucela,

Mendy

in Italy and

Vinicius

in the final stretch of the match against Real.

And in the eleven, Zidane opted for

Mariano

in the league games and for

Isco

as a false nine in the continental tie.

The result?

Green shoots at the level of the game with the Andalusian, but scoring drought in the 270 minutes without Benzema.

Neither Mariano nor

Hugo Duro

were a guarantee solution.

"It is a joy for football"

In these circumstances came the preview of the derby and the looks of the entire

Valdebebas

Sports City

on the French attacker.

The medical team took care of him in detail during the previous days and he was able to work with the group for the first time at the end of the week, just in time for the Metropolitano.

Zidane did not give clues about his presence in the eleven, but finally he did not deny the participation of one of his favorite footballers.

"

It is a joy for football,

" summarized 'Zizou' about his star in the previous press conference.

Benzema jumped to Wanda with the classic bandage on his right hand and with

less rhythm than usual

during the first moments of the game.

The timid white pressure at Atlético's ball exit led her with doubts, and like her teammates she made a very irregular first half, with a single shot on goal, and nothing clear, in summary.

From villain to hero

In the second half the match turned upside down.

"The first half was for them and the second for us," summed up the number '9' at the end of the game.

In those 45 minutes, Benzema had time for everything, to be a

villain and a hero

.

He sent a frank shot high with his right foot and

missed Oblak on Madrid's clearest occasion.

Vinicius put a good pass that left him only before the Slovenian goalkeeper, the Frenchman finished off with his right, almost falling, and it came out too focused.

The goalkeeper had time to reject the shot with his left hand and the rebound was again left to Benzema, who again sent his second attempt to Oblak's chest, this time with his left.

He did not believe it.

A couple of minutes later,

the relief and survival of Madrid in the League

.

The French striker controlled the ball in front of the area, performed a '

one-two

' with which he beat two Atlético defenders and

enabled Casemiro

, who with Oblak on top decided to deliver the ball back to Benzema, who only had to push it.

With the final whistle,

the Frenchman hugged Oblak with a smile

and joked a bit with Casemiro, his assistant.

"I was talking to Case ... He was angry because two minutes before the goal he could have scored, but Oblak made a good save," he admitted.

"I am happy with the result.

It is a good point for us

and the League is not over," he acknowledged.

18 goals for him, 13 for his teammates

The French forward has three goals in the last three games he has played and has

accumulated 18 goals in all competitions

,

more than his teammates add together in the Whites attack

: 13. 4 Vinicius, 3 Hazard, 2 Asensio, 1 Mariano and 1 Rodrygo ... And Lucas Vázquez, who has participated as a winger for most of the season, adds two.

"

Is there a goal missing? I don't know ...

", reflected Benzema.

"We can put more because we always have chances. The important thing is to put them in and that's it," he concluded.

Now he will have seven days to continue with his set-up for the game against

Elche

and, above all, focusing on the

return of the round of 16 against Atalanta

.

There, in addition, Benzema should have the accompaniment of his friend

Eden Hazard

, who is already in the last stretch of the rehabilitation of his muscle injury.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Mariano Diaz

  • Casemiro

  • Eden Hazard

  • Ferland mendy

  • Isco Alarcon

  • Rodrygo Goes

  • Dani carvajal

  • Zinedine Zidane

  • Karim Benzema

  • sports

  • Real Madrid

  • football

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LaLiga Santander 2020 - 2021Zidane, Benzema's return and the long wait for Hazard: "We are not going to risk"

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