French star Karim Benzema succeeded in obtaining the nominations of the majority of football fans to win the 2022 Ballon d'Or, which will not only honor his brilliance last season, but the culmination of the career of a player who was not always among the favorites.

A report by Sports Keeda considered that Benzema went through many stages in his life, beginning with his upbringing in Lyon, France, and reaching the throne of European football for the fifth time in his history and for the 14th time in the history of his Real Madrid team.

The report indicated that Benzema is considered one of the greatest football players in France, and was part of the historic "BBC" trio of Real Madrid, accompanied by Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, but he did not achieve this without suffering, but was criticized for his performance and for some decisions that affected him. his career.

The site reviewed a number of information that you may not have heard before about the Real Madrid scorer:

He was not afraid in front of adults

Benzema started his football career at his hometown club Bron Terrillon when he was 8 years old.

He attracted the attention of Lyon officials when he scored two goals in an under-10 match against the Lyon Youth Academy.

Benzema achieved great success as a youth in Lyon where he quickly rose through the youth academy and scored 32 goals for the under-16 team, winning the European Under-17 Championship.

Even before Karim Benzema was a household name among football fans, he was already winning trophies.

He was part of the French under-17 football team that won the first European Football Association (UEFA) Under-17 Championship held in France in 2004.

When Benzema was signed into the first team at Lyon, he had to interact with first-team players including Florent Malouda, Sylvian Wiltord, Eric Abidal and Michael Essien.

When Benzema met these players for the first time, he was exposed to jokes that he did not find interesting.

His reaction was spontaneous and he told one of his colleagues, "Don't laugh, I'm here to take your place."

He did not delay in achieving this and wrote his name as Leon's favorite number 9.

He scored 66 goals in 148 matches across all competitions before moving to Real Madrid.

Benzema and Zidane

In 2011, Benzema won the France Player of the Year award, making him the second French player based in Spain to win the award and also the second Real Madrid player to win this accolade.

The first was none other than the French Zinedine Zidane.

Benzema was once compared to Zizou, and he responded by saying, "It's a compliment to be compared with Zinedine Zidane, but we are two different players."

It is surprising to note that Benzema has won more French Footballer of the Year awards than Zidane.

Benzema has won it 3 times, while Zidane has won it only twice in his career.

Weight loss clinic

Benzema has been struggling to stabilize in La Liga and has been criticized by a number of critics for his poor performance.

In 2010, former France coach Laurent Blanc advised Benzema to work on his fitness and lose some weight in order to rise to a better level.

Before the start of the 2011-2012 season, Benzema joined a clinic in Italy to lose weight, and the plan worked, and Benzema scored 32 goals in all competitions that season.

The fastest goal in El Clasico history

Argentina's Lionel Messi or his Portuguese rival Cristiano Ronaldo did not get this goal, but he was registered in the name of Benzema, who scored the goal in 2011 after only 21 seconds of kick-off, to put Real Madrid in the lead, in a match that ended with Barcelona winning 3-1.

Benzema's two brothers are also footballers

Benzema's younger siblings Gracie and Sabri Benzema are also footballers.

Grassy plays in the French sixth division with Volks-le-Villains, while Sabri plays in the team's youth academy in his hometown of Bron.

Like Karim, Grassi is also considered a striker and preferred futsal before he started taking an interest in football.

He also revealed how Karim gave him tips on how to play.

He often visits Gracie Karim and stays with him in Madrid.

As for Sabri, who Benzema praises, he is also a striker.

Karim once said that Sabri would be a better player than him.

A legal crisis before the Valbuena case

In 2010, long before Benzema was implicated in the racketeering case of France teammate Mathieu Valbuena, he had already faced prosecutions by the legal authorities in a different case.

It was alleged that Benzema and fellow French national teammate Franck Ribery paid for sexual relations with a minor, an allegation Benzema has clearly denied.