Karim Benzema

KARIM BENZEMA(FW)

Real Madrid

[edit]2009–10 season

On 1 July 2009, it was announced that Lyon had reached an agreement with Spanish club Real Madrid for the transfer of Benzema. The transfer fee was priced at €35 million with the fee rising to as much as €41 million based on incentives. On 9 July, Benzema successfully passed his medical and signed his contract, a six-year deal, later that afternoon. He was presented officially as a Real Madrid player later that night at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, similarly to the previous signings of Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo. Benzema made his Real Madrid debut on 20 July in the club's opening pre-season friendly against Irish club Shamrock Rovers in Dublin, appearing as a halftime substitute. He scored the lone goal in the club's 1–0 win, scoring in the 87th minute.On 24 August, Benzema netted two goals in Real Madrid's 4–0 victory over Norwegian clubRosenborg in an annual friendly tournament organized for the Santiago Bernabeu Trophy. The goals brought his total tally in the preseason with Real Madrid to five, making him the joint top scorer alongside fellow striker Raúl.

He made his La Liga debut on 29 August against Deportivo La Coruña. Benzema scored his first official goal for Madrid on 20 September 2009 at home against newly promoted side Xerez in a 5–0 victory. Six days later, he scored his first brace for the club in a 3–0 home victory overTenerife.On 3 November, Benzema made his first European goal for Madrid in a 1–1 draw against Milan at the San Siro. He scored his second brace on 30 January 2010 for the club against Deportivo.

[edit]2010–11 season

Karim Benzema against Villarreal CF

The new season started slowly for Benzema, he was mainly used as a substitute early on the season, but due to a serious injury to Gonzalo Higuaín and the team's lack of senior strikers, Benzema was given more starts by José Mourinho. On 4 December, Benzema netted a hat-trick in a 4–0 victory against Auxerre, the first goal being Real Madrid's 300th goal in the Champions League era. His second hat-trick came on 22 December 2010 in a 8–0 thrashing in a Copa del Rey match against Levante.

On 22 February 2011, Benzema opened the scoring in the 1–1 draw against his former club Lyon at Stade de Gerland. The France striker scored just after 40 seconds coming on as a substitute on the 62nd minute in which he dodged three players and placed the ball between the legs of Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. The goal was the 100th goal of his professional senior career, and also the first goal for Real Madrid at Stade de Gerland in 6 years. Nevertheless he did not celebrate the goal out of respect for his former club. He then continued his fine form by scoring twice in the 7–0 win against Malaga, he added another brace (two goals) against Racing Santander in a 1–3 away win on 6 March 2011. Six days later, he scored another two against Hércules helping Madrid to a 2–0 victory, making it his third consecutive brace for his club. He also scored the opener in the 1–2 away win at Vicente Calderón Stadium in the Madrid derby match against Atlético Madrid on 19 March 2011, which took his tally to 10 goals in his last 8 games. After missing several weeks through injury, he returned to score a goal on 23 April in a 3–6 win against Valencia. In Real Madrid's last game of 2010–11 season against Almería, he scored two goals in an 8–1 home win which summarize his season with 26 goals in 31 starts and 17 substitute appearances.

[edit]2011–12 season

Benzema was impressive in the preseason matches, scoring 8 goals in 7 games. He opened his tally in the new league season with a brace against Getafe on September 10. He then scored against Dutch club Ajax in Real Madrid's 3–0Champions League win. On 10 December 2011, Benzema scored the fastest ever El Clásico goal, just 22 seconds into the game but eventually the opposing team, FC Barcelona, scored 3 goals (Alexis, Xavi and Cesc), ending with Real Madrid losing the game, with Karim's goal as the only one for the team.

On March 24,2012, Benzema surpassed Zinedine Zidane as the top French scorer in La Liga history with 2 goals against Real Socidead. On the following Wednesday 27th March, he scored 2 goals into Champions League quarter-finals against Cyprus's APOEL Nicosia in a 3-0 away game.