From 'Coco' and the shyness of school to the legend of 'KB9': the maturity of Karim Benzema

• Chronicle Benzema hits Chelsea and the Real Madrid shield is reborn at Stamford Bridge

• Reactions Ancelotti's express trip and a downpour over London: "I listen to the players"

• Opinion Benzema was Noah under the flood

From '

' (that's what they called him) to '

' there are three decades of poverty, shyness, talent, problems and success.

About boys from a

who messed with a boy of

.

Of young promises of

who took advantage of the

of that little striker who also acted as a

in the first team matches.

Of a signing by Real Madrid.

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Of doubts.

Of

and shoulders that have carried the weight of the

after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.

There are already four seasons that

, 'Coco', 'KB9', has been accumulating

.

The last one, on Wednesday night at

with another

for history.

's shy teenager

is now Madrid's

, the first out of the dressing room during warm-ups and the leader when the kick-off whistles.

His

merengue bench after the 0-2, while the stadium lamented his header and his teammates shouted at him with joy, he explained everything.

"I use the first minutes of matches to

and from there, I play," Benzema explained a while ago.

In London, he understood that to act as a center forward in the area he had to serve as a '

' in the ball exit, make the rival central defenders doubt and create spaces for

and

.

That's how the first goal came and that's how he found the hole in the second.

At the break, on the way to the locker room, he specified with Alaba, already a leader like him, the best options to attack the 'blue' defence.

He knew that

,

and

were not having their best night.

In the first play of the second half he put pressure on the German central defender after an error by

and scored the third.

Again taking advantage of a mistake by the rival goalkeeper, as with

in the second leg of the 2018 semi-final against Bayern, as with

in the final of the same year against Liverpool, as with

this season...

"This is my story"

Beyond his football, something already praised by the entire planet, what most surprises and stands out in

is his mental strength, something that in his early years did not generate so much security.

"They're not going to do anything.

," he wrote

to his rapper friend

before the second leg against PSG.

His

, especially after being

, has come just when Madrid needed him most after the sale of Cristiano.

A few months before the Portuguese left, Benzema changed

for the

urbanization , a luxury in the middle of nowhere

north of Madrid, near

and the airport, from where he flies in his private plane to

or

, his favorite destinations.

The European football spring has found him in the middle of fasting for Ramadan, a key vital moment for Karim, a confessed Muslim, and for his religion.

A circumstance that he shares with other footballers and that does not affect him in his day-to-day sports.

"

," he admitted this week to

.

At 34 years old, the data does not reject that argument: he has two consecutive

in the Champions League, 13 goals in the last seven games he has played, 37 in 36 appearances this year and no one has accumulated more goals and assists than him in Europe: 24 and 11. 31 and 2 adds

, 20 and 10

and 17 and 13

.

A constant that has an

on Madrid itself, as is logical.

The

team this season have come without the Frenchman or with him greatly diminished physically.

He was neither in

for the Cup, when the whites were eliminated, nor in the

in the Clásico .

And in the first leg of

against PSG he arrived on the buzzer after an injury.

Off the pitch, he is the "

" of

and one of the great protagonists in the telenovela of the

, who is joined by a great friendship that the Madrid board hope will translate into the signing of the young French attacker.

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