He had one last chance to make an impression, as the votes for the Ballon d'Or end this Sunday evening.
But Karim Benzema did not really manage to stand out, on the occasion of the first Clasico of the season which was held at Camp Nou.
Against FC Barcelona, the Frenchman was unable to score.
It took almost thirty minutes and finally the opening of the scoring to see play in this match, after a start to the meeting without real rhythm, marked by the hesitations and approximations of the two teams.
And in this little game of waiting, it was Real Madrid who was able to find the fault first, on a counter-attack, concluded with a magnificent cross strike with the left foot of David Alaba (32nd).
For his first Clasico, the Austrian took the opportunity to score his first goal with Real.
The match was then packed and the French number 10, captain of the White House, showed himself more, with in particular several calls near the surface, while his team multiplied the counter-attacks, Vinicius Junior in the lead, untenable on the left side of the attack.
"He shows a lot of humility, he works a lot"
“We suffered but we were well united and we took advantage of cons quite often, we created the danger like that, confirmed Carlo Ancelotti at the microphone of BeIN Sports.
The team played a very smart game, not of a great level but it was efficient.
The players were able to enjoy the game, score, proceed against and the game was pretty well controlled.
It was fairly balanced, but the team defended very well.
In the second half, Karim Benzema, then served by Modric in the box, almost contributed to the victory of his team. His powerful recovery of the right (62nd) could have opened the net for him but too centered, it was logically captured by Marc-André ter Stegen. An appointment that could be described as missed for the Frenchman, silent for his 25th Clasico, no doubt also because the wait around his performance was considerable.
By regaining the lead in La Liga, tied on points with Real Sociedad and Sevilla FC, Read Madrid still managed his afternoon, and did not fail to reaffirm his support for his star striker in this other competition, the result of which is expected at the end of November.
Starting with Carlo Ancelotti.
“We hope he can win the Golden Ball.
We all know what we think of him, it hasn't changed.
We have a lot of affection for him.
He shows a lot of humility, he works a lot, ”insisted the coach.