Karim Benzema: The making of a world-class No 9

Real Madrid and France striker Karim Benzema won the Ballon d’Or on Monday, the award which recognises the world’s best player. This article was first published before the Champions League final in May.

“When Karim Benzema started playing Champions League games for Lyon, his number was 44.

“Once, he came back to our room after a game. He was 18 and he said, ‘They’re making me play with this number, I can’t play with 44’. I said, ‘Bro, you’re playing Champions League, what are you talking about?’. He said, ‘I want to play with the No 9’. So he started giving me his No 44 shirt after games because he was determined to be a No 9. That was his favourite number.”

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From a young age, Benzema had every intention of becoming one of the best forwards in the world.

His former team-mate and childhood friend Anthony Mounier, who made 21 league appearances for Lyon between 2007-09 and now plays for Greek side Kallithea, cannot help but laugh as he reflects on the Frenchman’s rise to the top.

“At the academy, we shared a room, so we’d always go down and eat breakfast together,” Mounier tells The Athletic. “When Karim started playing with the first team, I was still playing for the second team. So whenever he’d return to our room after matches, he’d always wake me up at night.

“I love my sleep, but Karim didn’t care. He was excited and wanted to talk about how the game went. We’d talk and he would mention what he needs to work on for next time. That’s when I told him, ‘Bro, you will make it. You’re talented but you have the right mindset’.”

This is the story of how a quiet kid from Lyon became one of the most devastating strikers in football but also lost nearly six years of his international career because of a blackmail case involving a France team-mate…

Benzema grew up in Terraillon, one of the districts in Bron, a suburb on the eastern outskirts of Lyon. It has a population of 40,000 and is known for being a dangerous area.

He lived in social housing with his mother Wahida, his father Hafid, and four sisters and three brothers. Benzema’s mother was born and raised in Lyon, while his dad came to France from Algeria.

The family home was just a few seconds’ walk from Benzema’s first club, SC Bron Terraillon.

It’s here that the coaches tried to keep the youngster on the straight and narrow.

On the warm afternoon The Athletic visits, many of the up-and-coming prospects have arrived for training. They decide to do a rendition of the Justin Bieber song Baby and all laugh at one another as it shortly becomes clear their singing ability is perhaps not on par with their footballing skills. But one local says it is routine for the youngsters to sing before training, and for coaches at Bron Terraillon, there is hope that Benzema’s story will spur them on.

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Frederic Rigolet was the now-Real Madrid and France striker’s first coach in 1995, and is still in contact with the family. He recalls how Benzema was ahead of his peers.

“We called him ‘Coco’,” he says. “That was his nickname. Only his close friends and family call him that. The area he grew up in is tough but Karim always had a ball in his hands. He was very quiet but he loved playing football. He was eight when I first coached him and there was a big gap between Karim and the other young players. (Though) We could never have imagined he’d develop into the player he’s become.

“But if you want something so much, you make it work. I remember he used to always kick his ball against a wall. He wouldn’t stop. You’d have to say, ‘Karim, take a break. Go watch TV’.

“Our team faced Lyon’s junior team and Karim scored two goals. He won us the game and the scout from Lyon was so impressed he signed him.

“It’s nice that when people think of us, they think of Karim. We’re a small club and the young kids we have now want to be the next Benzema. They’re inspired by him.”

Given the proximity, it is common for many people to visit Benzema’s childhood home. Its current occupant, named Aida, was initially taken aback by the interest.

“I moved to this house in 2017,” she says. “A lot of people, mainly journalists, kept knocking on my door. I was thinking, ‘Why do you people keep coming here?’. And that’s when I found out… one journalist travelled all the way from Spain to visit us.

“Karim is very well known and appreciated here. The kids talk about him a lot. I know one of his sisters, because her son is at the same school as my son. His parents also don’t live too far away. They’re still in Lyon.”

Similar to Benzema, his friend Mounier was viewed as a promising prospect at Lyon.

Both boys joined the club at an early age and have been close friends ever since. They regularly played alongside each other in academy sides and Mounier reflects on some of the struggles Benzema endured before making the step up to the first team in 2005.

“We pretty much played every game together (in the academy),” Mounier says. “When he was 14 he was a normal player, nothing special. Karim will admit this. Probably the one thing that made him stand out was his finishing. It was so good and that’s something you can’t teach. At that age, some players are more advanced than others. Karim was skinny at the time. His weight was probably holding him back.”

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This view is shared by Benzema’s former academy coach Robert Valette.

“He was the kid that lacked a bit of confidence,” Valette says. “He was skinny and was very shy. He could easily go undetected. He’d never put the spotlight on himself.”

At 15, the club enrolled Benzema at Tola Vologe, a boarding house for their academy players. He started to show signs of progress but Mounier believes one particular summer was the turning point in his career.

“When Karim turned 16, I saw a massive difference,” Mounier says. “We finished all our games with the academy and broke up for the summer holidays in June. We all came back in August to start the new season, and it was a different Karim. He had muscles and was a machine.

“Most of us relaxed during the break but Karim was so focused on improving. Small margins separate good players from really good players.

“Then he started playing for France’s youth team (under-17s). He was part of the squad that won the 2004 UEFA European Under-17 Championship and he hasn’t looked back since.

“Most of the defenders were shocked, like, ‘This can’t be the same Karim from a few months ago!’. He was working on his abs, doing boxing in the gym. He was determined to do well. When he was 13 or 14, most of the coaches would’ve said, ‘No, he won’t make it’ — Karim was a bit slow. But that summer break changed it for him. He became a diamond. In training, he was very good so they had no other choice but to promote him to the first team.”

Head coach Paul Le Guen handed the striker his professional debut against Metz in January 2005, a month after he turned 17. He made six league appearances that season then, in the next one, scored four times in 16 cup and league games.

“I provided so many assists for Karim in the academy,” Mounier says. “In one season, I probably had 20 assists for him. Crazy numbers. I even assisted him when we played together in the first team. Valette was a tough coach but he made sure we were ready to play under Le Guen. At that point, Karim was ready to play because he had a lot of confidence in himself.”

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The 2007-08 campaign was Benzema’s breakout season and saw him score 31 goals in 52 appearances in all competitions. Under former Portsmouth manager Alain Perrin, his consistency in front of goal meant he was arguably Lyon’s most important player. Although he had not yet earned the No 9 jersey, at that point being worn by the Brazil international striker Fred, Benzema was now just one digit away in the No 10 shirt.

Established forwards John Carew, Florent Malouda and Sylvain Wiltord had all left the club, meaning there were more opportunities for a still-teenage Benzema to impress. He had already made his Champions League debut, on the night he scored his professional goal against Norwegian club Rosenborg in December 2005. But during that 2007-08 season, performances against Rangers and Manchester United caught the eye.

He scored against the Scottish side in a 3-0 group-stage win that qualified Lyon for the knockout phase, where they faced Manchester United. Benzema scored in the first leg, a 1-1 draw in France, but United went through 2-1 on aggregate thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal at Old Trafford.

Aged 20, Benzema was now on United’s radar.

“The first time I played against him, Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to sign him,” Rio Ferdinand told BT Sport. “He was speaking to him in the tunnel after the game and Lyon officials had to pull him away.”

Mounier explains how there is more to that story.

“Karim was the man at this point,” he says. “Manchester United were so keen on signing him that Sir Alex Ferguson went to Karim’s house to meet his parents. But his dream was to play for Real Madrid. He really looked up to the Brazilian Ronaldo. That was his idol. Karim’s dream has always been to play for Real Madrid and he wanted to follow in Ronaldo’s footsteps.

“If Real Madrid want to sign you, you can’t turn them down.”

A few years later, Benzema said: “When I was younger, the way Ronaldo played had an influence on me. He’s the best striker of all time. I watch videos of him, and try to do what he does, but it’s not easy. It’s impossible to pull off the same moves as he did.”

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To ward off the growing transfer interest, Lyon extended Benzema’s contract until 2013 with the option of an additional one-year extension. By the end of 2007-08, he had helped the club win the French title and was Ligue 1’s top scorer with 20 goals.

He stayed for one more season before sealing a £30 million move to Real Madrid in July 2009.

Former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon was aware of Benzema’s potential long before he joined the Spanish giants, having closely monitored the forward’s progress without being able to justify meeting Lyon’s asking price.

“Benzema was on our radar,” Calderon tells The Athletic, “but we had the Brazilian Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Raul and Arjen Robben, and we didn’t think it was the right time for Benzema to join us. But we knew he would be one of the players we had to sign further down the line. He played against us twice, in 2007 and 2009. Lyon beat us and he was showing just how talented he was.

“Lyon wanted €30 million. It sounds cheap now but this was in 2006. I signed Van Nistelrooy for €11 million, Gonzalo Higuain for €9 million, Marcelo for €6 million, so the prices weren’t the same as now.”

Still only 21, Benzema initially struggled to settle at his new club. He scored nine goals in 33 appearances in his debut year — his lowest single-season return for the Spanish side to date — and was behind Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo in the pecking order up front. Only 14 of Benzema’s 27 league appearances that season were starts and there were concerns about whether he made the jump to the Bernabeu too soon.

“Real Madrid wanted to sign him and loan him back to Lyon,” Mounier says. “A lot of people were unsure if it was too early in his career. It’s a step (joining Real Madrid) you make when you’re 24 or 25. Karim was ready but it was a new country and a new language. He needed time. You can’t last that long in a dressing room with Sergio Ramos, Ronaldo and Marcelo if you’re not talented.”

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Calderon agrees.

“Real Madrid fans can be demanding, so his first few years at the club were difficult,” he says. “It happened with Zinedine Zidane, who joined in June (of 2001) and was booed up until the November. But now Benzema is Real Madrid’s most important player. He’s playing better than ever and scoring loads of goals. He’s turned it around.”

Benzema’s poor debut season in Madrid resulted in him being left out of France’s 2010 World Cup squad by coach Raymond Domenech. In the run-up to the tournament in South Africa, Domenech flew to Madrid to speak to him in person but was left frustrated when Karim Djaziri, Benzema’s agent at the time, kept interfering.

“I didn’t need the agent to filter the conversation,” Domenech said at the time. “I wanted to speak with Karim only, but every time Djaziri was with him. Karim stays hanging out with his friends from Bron. Any weekend he can, he goes there. He has to stand on his own two feet, but he’s happy. He earns good money. His life is fine. He lets his agent do everything for him.

“Cristiano Ronaldo really understands what he can do with his talent. Karim? No. Ronaldo has more self-pride. If Karim had only 10 per cent of Ronaldo’s drive, he could win the Ballon d’Or.”

Benzema had off-pitch issues to contend with, too.

That summer, along with his national team team-mate Franck Ribery, he was investigated for allegedly paying an underage woman for sex in 2008. Zahia Dehar alleged both players paid to have sex with her when she was under 18.

The age of consent is 15 in France, but paying for sex with anyone under 18 is a crime. A conviction for soliciting sex with an underage prostitute brings with it a sentence of up to three years in jail and a fine of €45,000 (£38,000).

It was four years before a French court dropped charges of sex with an underage prostitute against Ribery and Benzema, ruling there was insufficient proof they were aware that Dehar was a minor when the alleged offences took place.

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That was not the first or last time that Benzema has been in trouble with the law.

The forward remains loyal to his group of friends from Bron Terraillon.

In November 2009, four months after sealing his dream move to Madrid, one of his childhood mates was in trouble. Karim Zenati, also known as Karlouche, was arrested for speeding in his white Audi TT — despite it having a flat tyre. The incident happened on the A7 motorway that links France and Spain and police found more than 200kg of cannabis in Zenati’s car.

When Zenati was jailed, Benzema visited him in prison and later gave him a job with Best Of Benzema, a company set up in 2008 to protect Benzema’s image rights. This is just one of many examples of the Frenchman’s loyalty to his close circle.

Zenati, who was born in Tunisia, grew up with Benzema and was by his side when the forward visited his old school, Jean Moulin in Lyon, in 2015.

But some of the time Benzema spent with Zenati had huge implications.

In November 2015, he was placed under formal judicial investigation in connection with an alleged attempt to blackmail Lyon midfielder Mathieu Valbuena over a sex tape. Benzema admitted involvement in the alleged extortion case, telling investigators he approached the fellow footballer about the tape on behalf of “a childhood friend”.

Phone-call transcripts were leaked by police — to French radio station Europe 1 — of a phone call that took place on October 6, 2015 between Benzema and Zenati after the former had spoken to Valbuena while on international duty. Benzema was suspended from playing for France and Noel Le Graet, the French Football Federation president, was not happy about the situation.

“Benzema was born in a difficult district and he hasn’t changed his friends,” he told Ouest-France at the time. “His friends haven’t moved forward while he has become a star, a media figure, someone who is extremely well off. He doesn’t communicate particularly well, but he’s intelligent in the game. He’s been keeping some bad company.

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“Today, Benzema is not able to be picked and he won’t be in June (for the 2016 European Championship staged in France) if the situation does not change. It’s heartbreaking, I must say.

“We’re all embarrassed, we would have preferred to avoid such an affair. I’m unhappy about it because he is good and because I’m convinced he was caught up in something completely crazy that went over his head.”

The scandal did not impact Benzema’s form. That season, he was part of the Real Madrid that won the Champions League, beating city rivals Atletico on penalties in the final, and scored 24 goals in 27 La Liga games — at that point, his best return in a single league season.

He has gone from strength to strength, particularly on an individual level, since Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure to Juventus in the summer of 2018, and is one of the favourites to win this year’s Ballon d’Or.

But away from the Bernabeu, public opinion changed, and the casual, sneering tone of those leaked phone-call transcripts shocked the French public. Benzema spent nearly six years in exile from the France squad, missing out on their World Cup triumph in 2018, until being surprisingly recalled by coach Didier Deschamps for the pandemic-delayed European Championship finals last summer.

With the blackmail case having been thrown out by the Court of Cassation, France’s highest judicial court, in 2017, only for that decision to be overturned by the Court of Appeal in Paris the following year, the whole murky affair was finally heard in court at the end of 2021. Benzema was found guilty of complicity in the attempted blackmail of Valbuena and given a one-year suspended sentence and fined €75,000, both of which he says he will appeal. His friend Zenati was given a 15-month prison sentence.

Benzema was unveiled by Real Madrid on the same day as Cristiano Ronaldo and the Frenchman went on to assist 47 of Ronaldo’s 450 goals for the club. No player has set up more goals for Ronaldo.

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The Portugal captain is the only player ahead of Benzema in the Madrid goalscoring chart, with Benzema and club legend Raul level on 323. Everything was geared towards Ronaldo during his time in Madrid. Benzema may have scored 25 goals a season, but Ronaldo was scoring twice as many.

Ronaldo’s professionalism when it came to training and looking after his body rubbed off on Benzema, and that may be part of the reason the now 34-year-old Frenchman has been in such brilliant form in these latter stages of his career, emerging from the shadow cast by Ronaldo.

“The one player who has been like a big brother for Karim is Ronaldo,” Benzema’s friend Mounier says. “He was at the top of his game at Madrid. I spoke to Karim and he said, ‘Ronaldo is a machine. He’s the first one at the gym and sometimes the last to leave. He just constantly finds ways to improve’. Karim saw Ronaldo work so hard, so Karim started following in Ronaldo’s footsteps.

“Last year, he (Benzema) came to see me in Greece. We spoke about family and football but he was saying he pretty much lives in the gym now. He’s eating right, working out and he’s getting the praise he deserves. It’s clear Ronaldo’s influence has rubbed off.”

In the four years since Ronaldo left for Turin, Benzema has been the star man at Madrid, scoring 131 goals in that time. Madrid have won La Liga another twice and this year, in particular, Benzema has been a class apart, leading them to this weekend’s Champions League final against Liverpool back on French soil in Paris.

“In the last three seasons, he’s been amazing,” says former Real Madrid president Calderon. “You have players like Raul, who is an icon for the club, but fans will view Benzema in a similar light now.

“Ronaldo was scoring all the goals and getting most of the attention. That would’ve motivated Benzema to improve, but he was also in Ronaldo’s shadow. For nine years, all most people spoke about was Ronaldo.

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“Benzema is now 34 but he’s probably in the best shape of his career. Players of this generation are capable of playing until they’re 40. It wouldn’t surprise me if Ronaldo played until that age. Karim can do the same and I’m not surprised — he looks after himself well.

“Now, when you watch Real Madrid, you think of it as Benzema’s team. Naturally, you need a complete team to compete for trophies. But the spine of the team is Benzema, (playmaker) Luka Modric and (goalkeeper) Thibaut Courtois.”

Ex-Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek played alongside Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo at the Bernabeu after leaving Anfield. He also believes that the latter’s departure has allowed the Benzema to shine.

“In his first six months I was comparing him to other players like Kaka, because no one could get the ball off him,” Dudek says. “His balance and control is something you can’t teach.

“His form right now doesn’t surprise me. He was fairly quiet when he first joined because he’s French and had to learn a new language. Benzema was assisting Ronaldo a lot, but when Ronaldo left that’s when Benzema started to become a leader at Real Madrid.

“It’s not easy to play alongside Ronaldo when he’s scoring so many goals. The most important thing for Benzema was overcoming personal problems and his issues with the national team.

“I’ve had the privilege of playing alongside some big names, like Michael Owen, Raul, Van Nistelrooy and Robert Lewandowski, but Benzema is one of the best I’ve played with.”

This season has been Benzema’s best yet.

He has 44 goals in all competitions with one game to go and under returning coach Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid have won La Liga and the Supercopa de Espana and are 90 minutes from winning a record 14th European Cup.

Benzema has won the Champions League four times already and has 15 goals in the competition this season. Only Ronaldo (140) and Lionel Messi (125) have scored more goals than his 86 in Europe’s elite competition and should he score in the final on Saturday, aged 34 years and 160 days, he will be the second-oldest player to do so, after Paolo Maldini, who scored in AC Milan’s defeat to Liverpool in 2005 a month before his 37th birthday.

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He has dragged Madrid to the final, scoring back-to-back hat-tricks in the knockout phase against Paris Saint-German and Chelsea. But it was the sheer boldness of his Panenka penalty in the first leg of the semi-final away to Manchester City that left a lasting impression.

Yep, of course. ❄️

Of course Benzema delivered a panenka in a Champions League semi-final 😵

This game really has it all! It's now 4-3! #UCL pic.twitter.com/TMkdfmveuC

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 26, 2022

“You need to have a different level of confidence to do that,” Mounier says. “Before that game, he missed two penalties (against Osasuna in Madrid’s previous fixture). If you’re a player who’s low on confidence you give someone else an opportunity to take it, but that’s not Karim. Big players take responsibilities. Taking a penalty is a psychological battle between you and the goalkeeper. That’s why his close friends and family call him Coco. He’s just calm and relaxed at all times. Nothing fazes him.”

Calderon is looking forward to this weekend’s final, and expects Benzema to deliver once again: “There was a time when he probably wasn’t appreciated enough. We all know he’s a fantastic player but he wasn’t getting the credit he deserves. Underrated in some ways, in all honesty.

“But he will go down as one of the best players in the club’s history. What he’s done in the last couple of years has been amazing. If he helps the team win the Champions League, it will further cement his legacy.”

Mounier adds: “The (2022) Ballon D’or should have his name on it. Last year, they gave it to Lionel Messi, I don’t understand why. But this year, if it’s not Benzema there will be big drama.”

There have been problems off the pitch but the boy from Bron Terraillon has certainly fulfilled his potential on it.

For club and country, Benzema now has the No 9 shirt he has always craved — and there are few, if any, who wear it better in the modern game.

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“He’s been through a lot and for someone like him to come from Bron and make it to the top is incredible,” old pal Mounier says. “He’s made his family proud and he’s even motivated me to do well in life, whether it’s for my club or life after football.

“I think I only kept one of his No 44 shirts at Lyon — maybe I need to ask him for one of his No 9 shirts now he’s the best No 9 in the world.”

(Top photos: Getty Images/Design: Sam Richardson)

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