Sports

Karim Benzema Wins the Ballon D’Or

October 18, 2022October 18, 2022By Vicmas Sankara
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Karim Benzema Wins the Ballon D’Or

Real Madrid and France superstar Karim Benzema won his first Ballon D’Or trophy for the first time in his illustrious career at 34 years of age. Benzema is the first Frenchman to win the prestigious award since Zinedine Zidane in 1998. Zidane was at the event to present his countryman with the prize.

The Frenchman scored 44 goals in 46 games as he helped Real win the Champions League and La Liga in 2021-22. The last 12 of the 13 Ballon D’Or  trophies had been won by Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentine Lionel Messi with Luca Modric who won it in 2018 being the only outlier.

Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane, who was at Liverpool in 2021-22, was second ahead of Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne who was ranked third. Lionel Messi did not make the shortlist with Cristiano Ronaldo ranking 20th in this year’s edition.

Aged 34, Benzema is the oldest Ballon d’Or winner since Stanley Matthews in 1956. However, the France international says he has a “burning desire” to keep playing.
“Age is just a number for me, people play until their later years now and I still have this burning desire. It is this drive that has kept me going and never allowed me to let up. It kept this dream alive and was the fire behind me. I just want to make the most if it.” Said the deadly striker
This year’s Ballon d’Or was awarded for performance in the 2021-22 season, rather than the calendar year. Last season, Benzema was in scintillating form. His form has continued this season and he even scored last weekend against Real Madrid’s fierce rivals Barcelona to win the ElClassico

 

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