Karim Benzema, a forward for Real Madrid, defeated Robert Lewandowski, Sadio Mane, and Kevin De Bruyne to claim the coveted Ballon d’Or award for the first time in his career.
Since Zinedine Zidane in 1998, Benzema is the first French player to have won the trophy. He was crucial to Real’s last season’s drive to the Champions League title. Benzema is also the oldest champion, surpassing Stanley Matthews, who took first place in 1956 at the age of 34. At a ceremony on Monday in Paris, Benzema took the award and said he was proud, that it had taken a lot of work, and that it had fulfilled a young boy’s ambition.
Zidane, Benzema’s former Madrid coach, gave him the championship medal. Even more trying times for him came when he wasn’t chosen [with France], but Benzema says he never gave up. He likes my career, I think. This is the “Golden Ball” for the people. Benzema had a great season with Real, helping them win the LaLiga and Champions League double with 44 goals in 46 games across all competitions. He contributed to Real’s winning a record-breaking 14th trophy with his 15 goals in the Champions League. In the quarterfinals, semifinal, and last 16 matches, Real Madrid made amazing comebacks from deficits against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Chelsea, and Manchester City. In each of those second legs, Benzema scored.
Their 3-1 triumph over PSG in the second leg, when the Spanish team was down 2-0 overall, was the highlight of their European campaign. In the final 17 minutes, Benzema scored three goals, shocking the Ligue 1 team. Lionel Messi was succeeded by Karim Benzema after winning the Ballon d’Or for a record-extending seventh time the previous year. Messi, though, was not a nominee this time around following his first season at PSG. The award has been granted to men for 66 years and is given out by the France Football magazine. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the men’s and women’s awards were both withdrawn in 2020.
For the first time, the Ballon d’Or was given this year based on performance from the previous season. It had previously been awarded based on performance over a period of calendar years. On the women’s side, Spain’s Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d’Or for the second year in a row, besting Englishwoman Beth Mead, who had just won the European Championship, and Australians Sam Kerr. With 11 goals in the Champions League and 18 in the Primera Division, Putellas, whom earlier this year earned the FIFA Best Women’s Player title, was the top scorer overall. The 28-year-old, however, was unable to play for Spain at the Euros because he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury before the event in England.
Monday, Putellas continued, makes it very challenging to keep the trophy. She believed her hopes of winning were over when she injured her knee, but the candidate said that the jury’s decision was ultimately based on the entire previous season, which she had only missed for one month.
She stated that she hoped to participate in this season again. The knee is making a good recovery. She only needs to focus on getting better, and if everything goes as she hopes, as the doctors and her team also hope, Putellas said, she should be able to play again this season.
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