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.
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