Karim Benzema wins the first prestigious Ballon d’Or award

• Karim Benzema wins the Ballon d’Or for the first time in his career.
• First French player to win since Zinedine Zidane in 1998.
• Zidane, Benzema’s former Madrid coach, presented him with the trophy.

Karim Benzema, a forward for Real Madrid, has won the coveted Ballon d’Or trophy for the first time in his career, defeating Kevin De Bruyne, Sadio Mane, and Robert Lewandowski for the top football honor.

Benzema is the first French player to win the cup since Zinedine Zidane in 1998. He was instrumental in Real’s run to the Champions League championship last season.

Since Stanley Matthews, the first winner in 1956, was 34, Benzema is also the oldest winner.

As he accepted the honor at a ceremony in Paris on Monday, Benzema said, “I’m incredibly proud, it’s a lot of work and a kid’s dream come true.”

Zidane, Benzema’s former Madrid coach, presented him with the trophy. “There were even more difficult periods for me, when I was not selected [with France], and I did not give up,” Benzema said.

“I have a lot of pride in my career. This is the people’s “Golden Ball.”

With 44 goals in 46 appearances across all competitions, Benzema had an outstanding season with Real, helping them win the LaLiga and Champions League double. He scored 15 goals in the Champions League, helping Real win a record-breaking 14th championship.

Real staged incredible comebacks from deficits against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Chelsea, and Manchester City in the last-16, quarterfinals, and semifinals, respectively. Benzema scored in each of those second legs.

The highlight of their European season was their 3-1 victory over PSG in the return leg when the Spanish club was trailing 2-0 overall. Benzema scored a hat-trick in the final 17 minutes to shock the Ligue 1 team.

After winning the Ballon d’Or for a record-extending seventh time last year, Lionel Messi was succeeded by Benzema. However, after his debut season at PSG, Messi was not a nominee this time.

The honor, presented by France Football magazine, has been given to men for 66 years. Both the women’s trophy and the men’s trophy were discontinued in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic.

This year, the Ballon d’Or was awarded based on performance from the previous season for the first time. Prior to that, it had been given based on results over the course of calendar years.

On the women’s side, Spain’s Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d’Or for a second consecutive year, defeating Australia’s Sam Kerr and England’s Beth Mead, who had just won the European Championship.

Putellas, who earlier this year won the FIFA Best Women’s Player award, led all scorers with 11 goals in the Champions League and 18 in the Primera Division.

However, the 28-year-old missed the Euros for Spain since he injured his anterior cruciate ligament before the competition in England.

Putellas stated on Monday that it was considerably harder to keep the trophy. “When I hurt my knee, I believed my chances of winning were gone, but in the end, the jury decided based on the entire season before, which I only missed by one month.

She continued by saying that she hoped to play this year.

The knee is healing nicely. Putellas stated, “I simply need to concentrate on recovery, and if everything goes as I want — and as the doctors and my club hope — I hope to be back playing this season.

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