Benzema, a gold to the persistence

Karim Benzema followed her and got her.

After an entire career in the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, Real Madrid's French striker has been proclaimed the best footballer in the world with his first Golden Ball, which was awarded this Monday in Paris.

At 34 years old, the man from Lyon reached the culmination of his career last season, winning the League and the Champions League, being key to both titles for Real Madrid.

There has been no discussion of the merits of the Frenchman, who had never finished in the top three of the

While Messi and Cristiano shared the awards for the last 15 years, the Frenchman watched from the shadows, sometimes outside the list of nominees.

But 2022 has been the year of his

of him.

Benzema rises at the same rate as Messi and Cristiano go into decline.

The Argentine was left out of the list of nominees for this edition for the first time since 2006, when he was just 19 years old.

Ronaldo for his part, yes he entered among the candidates.

The Portuguese has finished in 20th place in the Ballon d'Or ranking, his lowest position of the times he has been nominated for the award.

Benzema's overtaking is not only in terms of titles.

Messi and Cristiano scored the highest numbers in the history of football when they were in their prime, but now it is the Frenchman who surpasses them in scoring.

Since Cristiano left Real Madrid, the

has not stopped raising his scoring and assist records, until this season he has finally managed to surpass the two stars in both statistics.

Benzema's 44 goals and 15 assists across all competitions make him the second most productive striker last season.

Only PSG forward Kylian Mbappé has caused more direct goals (39 goals and 21 assists, 60 goals in total).

Lewandowski (50 goals and 7 assists) and Mohamed Salah (31 goals and 15 assists) are the closest behind the two French strikers.

Far is Ronaldo (24 goals and 3 assists) and even more Messi (11 goals and 14 assists).

Benzema's figures are divided into 27 goals in LaLiga, 15 in the Champions League, and two in the Spanish Super Cup.

He was the top scorer in all three competitions and only failed to score in the Copa del Rey.

With the Ballon d'Or to Benzema, Real Madrid is tied with Barcelona as the two clubs that have received the most times have had players awarded the

, both with 12. Madrid's award-winning footballers have been Alfredo Di Stéfano (1957, 1959), Raymond Kopa (1958), Luís Figo (2000), Ronaldo Nazário (2002), Fabio Cannavaro (2006), Cristiano Ronaldo (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017), Luka Modric (2018) and Karim Benzema (2022), while those of Barcelona are Luis Suárez (1960), Johan Cruyff (1973, 1974), Hristo Stoichkov (1994), Rivaldo (1999), Ronaldinho (2005) and Leo Messi (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019).

The team that most closely follows them is AC Milan, with eight awards, the last one to Kaká in 2007. The Brazilian was the last to win the Ballon d'Or before the tyranny of Cristiano and Messi began, which today he certified its end.

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