Curse-Breaking Kitten of War Karim Finally Starts To Purr

It's taken a while but Karim Benzema has finally found his feet at Real Madrid.The 23 year-old French striker struggled to make a significant impact in his first season at the Santiago Bernabéu but he is now putting in the performances to justify the €35 million that Madrid stumped up to Lyon for his services in the Summer of 2009.

In fact, his season was so poor that he was not even included in the 30-man preliminary France squad for the World Cup in South Africa last Summer. Despite the protests of national team manager Raymond Domenech, who said that Benzema's omission was due to incidents in his private life involving a prostitute, it was obvious that the youngster had missed out due to his erratic club form and not his off-field antics.

Benzema celebrates scoring yet another goal for Real Madrid

Benzema has not always been flavour of the month with his club manager either.Jose Mourinho requested in pre-season that Real Madrid sign another striker as he did not feel there was enough strength in depth up top. "if Higuaín or Benzema gets injured we'll have to pray," Mourinho said and, following the inevitable injury to one of the players (Higuain the unfortunate recipient), he was left with Benzema as his only striker.

The Portugese manager simply did not pick Benzema for the side, preferring instead to use Cristiano Ronaldo as a striker and was openly critical of the French star: "Karim is playing because I have got nothing else," he said in one press conference.

Criticism came from other quarters, too, with team-mate Kaka saying, "We have the feeling that Karim could do rather more."

Eventually Madrid caved and signed Emmanuel Adebayor on loan from Manchester City. Mourinho's distrust of Benzema forced Madrid's hand. The arrival of Adebayor seemed to breathe new life into Benzema, who suddenly improved tenfold to become one of the first names on the team-sheet.Following the turn of the year, it appeared that something had changed in Benzema. He was working harder, acting as if he were a team player and was suddenly reaping the rewards. He was no longer lazy and stroppy but has instead been showing his qualities and traits that are befitting of owning the number 9 shirt at the Bernabeu.

The arrival of Adebayor sparked an improvement in Benzema

His run of goals currently sees him with 10 from his last 8 games. Overall, he has 21 goals in 40 games with plenty more still to come, you feel.This goal return is much better than that of last season when his 8 league goals were virtually irrelevant - he got two against relegated Tenerife, the fourth in a 5-0 win over relegated Xérez, the sixth in a 6-0 win over Zaragoza, the fourth in a 5-1 win over Athletic.

But, such is his improvement that his goals are not only abundant but also of vital importance. He scored against his former club, Lyon, both home and away in the Champions League to break Real Madrid's last sixteen curse as well as scoring a crucial goal against Sevilla in the Copa Del Rey to seal a place in the final against arch-rivals Barcelona.

Only the untouchable Lionel Messi has scored more goals than Benzema in La Liga this calendar year and Cristiano Ronaldo lies equal with him on 12 - a testament to the marked improvement in his game.

Benzema celebrates the winning goal for France against Brazil

One man who would love to see Benzema succeed is Real Madrid President, Florentino Perez. Benzema is one of his big signings since taking the mantle and he has a lot to live up to as the previous President secured the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for a world record £80m fee. In a rare public display of emotion at a Madrid match, Perez punched the air after Benzema scored away at Lyon just 40 seconds after coming on as a substitute.

A re-call to the France squad has seen him start up front as the attack now appears to be built around him. It is a move from new manager Laurent Blanc which has been rewarded as Benzema popped up with crucial goals in friendlies against England and Brazil - games which France both won. He will look to shoot down Luxembourg this evening as Les Bleus look to take another step towards qualification for Euro 2012.

Mourinho once referred to using Benzema up front for Real Madrid as "hunting with a kitten" but now must see him as one of the most feared predators in Europe. This kitty has already helped to break a European curse and it would be a fairytale ending for him were he to get his paws on his first - and Real Madrid's tenth - European Cup at Wembley on May 28th.

Lack Of Away Goals Could Cost Liverpool

Another European away game and another lackluster attacking display from Liverpool.

The Merseyside outfit, fresh off the back of a 1-0 defeat away at Braga, face a tricky test in the return leg at Anfield next Thursday and should the Portuguese side score the cat would be well and truly placed amongst the pigeons.

The away goals rule is something that is meant to encourage sides to attack away from home rather than play for a 0-0 draw to take back to the home leg. However, this message does not appear to have been received by Kenny Dalglish and his predecessor Roy Hodgson despite away goals being the sucker punch which Diego Forlan delivered at Anfield to send Atletico Madrid to last season's final at the expense of the Reds.

A quick glance at the statistics shows that Liverpool have scored just five goals in seven European away games so far this season; four of which came before the group stages. A miserly record given the array of attacking talent at the disposal of Kenny Dalglish.

Luis Suarez's ineligibility leaves Liverpool with little attacking flair

Granted, the ineligibility of January acquisition Luis Suarez, who has slotted into Dalglish's system perfectly with a man of the match performance against Manchester United, is a big blow for Liverpool; as is the loss of captain and talisman Steven Gerrard but players such as Raul Meireles, Joe Cole and David N'Gog have failed to sufficiently step up to the goalscoring plate in European competition.

Liverpool's other major January signing, Andy Carroll, offers something different up top but the manner in which he uses his aerial ability and physical presence is sure to come under close attention from European referees, who tend to be a lot stricter than their English counterparts when it comes to physical contact. Perhaps the old-fashioned number 9 role is a thing of the past on the European stage?

A defensive imbalance within the side also restricts the attack-minded play of the five time European Champions. Deploying Lucas Leiva, Jay Spearing and Christian Poulsen in the same midfield is a tactical maneuver which looks to restrict goals rather than look for them.

Dalglish must alter his tactics if Liverpool are to progress in the Europa League

Liverpool's performances away from home in Europe this season, with the exception of Trabzonspor, have been nothing to shout about. The shackles have been well and truly put on, particularly under Hodgson, with attacks at a premium as defensive steel appears to have taken priority over bagging a priceless away goal.

If Liverpool are to progress to the latter stages of this tournament, they must come out of their defensive shell and show more attacking endeavour or they run the risk of losing on away goals as they did last season.

In the group stages, perhaps, clubs can get away with a defensive set-up when playing on the road but in knockout football, scoring nil away from home leaves the side in a precarious position heading into the second leg. One goal for Braga at Anfield next Thursday could be the final nail in the coffin of Liverpool's Europa League dream.

Forget Results - Fellaini Is Everton's Biggest Loss

After week upon week of false dawns at Goodison Park, the last thing the Everton faithful would have wanted is for one of their top players to get injured. Given the club’s luck of late, it appeared almost inevitable that injury would strike down a key component of their squad as they look to avoid relegation and kick on up the table towards top-half solidarity.

One would have expected the player to be Louis Saha, a player with a track record of injuries, or Mikel Arteta, who is starting to come back into form after playing below-par for a long time. However, it is midfield engine Marouane Fellaini who suffered an ankle injury last weekend against Sunderland which requires surgery, leaving him sidelined until the end of the season at least.

Fellaini celebrates one of his nine goals from his debut season

After arriving on Merseyside from Standard Liege for a club record £15m fee in 2008, 23 year-old Fellaini has established himself as a first-team regular for the Blues. His debut season is arguably his best so far: he won the Young Player of the Year award having come to the Premier League with a reputation for being a box-to-box midfielder from his time with Liege.

Since then he has almost been forced to become more versatile. Everton’s luck with injuries has been nothing short of awful in the last few years and this left Fellaini to be deployed as a second striker behind Tim Cahill for large parts of his Goodison Park career.

His best position, in the eyes of those who know him best – the Everton fans, is defensive midfield (the ‘Makelele’ role) where he can make the Blues tick.

Occasionally, Fellaini will be anonymous. The recent loss at Bolton is an example of this though the performance of every Everton player on the day was, to put it very kindly, below-par. When he performs like he did in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea last month, he can be one of the best midfielders in the league.

Fellaini's influence will be a big miss for Everton

Following a superb performance in a home victory against Manchester City - in which he made a mug out of Craig Bellamy with a superb turn on the halfway line to the delight of the majority of the nation - Fellaini’s manager, David Moyes, was purring with the Belgian. He cited that Fellaini was “as good as anyone in the league” and it’s difficult to disagree.

It appears that when Fellaini plays well, Everton do too. This correlation has seen the 6 foot 4 midfielder become one of the first names on Moyes’ team sheet thanks to his ability to break up the play and start Everton attacks with his passing. Whilst he may not be the most aesthetically pleasing player to watch, he is effective. Interest from clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid does not come without good reason.

There seems to be some form of symmetry between last season and this for Fellaini. He missed the last part of last season with an injury after going in for a tackle with Sotiris Kyrgiakos in the Merseyside derby at Anfield. The time off will do him the world of good but, obviously, he is of no use to the Toffees from the treatment room.

Amidst all of the talks of crisis at Goodison Park from sceptical Blues fans, they should see that the biggest loss for Everton is not the FA Cup defeat to Reading but that of their midfield maestro.