Benzema leaves Real Madrid, the departure of a legend

The great champions also recognize themselves in this, no one wants the story to end. In the hope of admiring forever at their exploits, to continue to be privileged of the passing of time. Karim Benzema is of this caliber. Men who will have marked their time. He hasn't retired, but it's just like that. This Sunday, Real Madrid has indeed published a statement formalizing the departure of the Ballon d'Or 2022.

To discover

• Liga standings
• Liga schedule and results

After fourteen years of good and loyal service, 25 trophies, including 5 Champions Leagues, the French international bows out in the biggest club on the football planet. Grandiose and unimaginable for the kid from Bron. At 35, he will continue to hit the pitch, arguably in Saudi Arabia for the last and biggest contract of his football life, but it's incomparable to the imprint he will leave on the European stage.

Karim Benzema with Real Madrid CARL RECINE / REUTERS

A legendary record, stunning statistics and a fabulous imprint in the game

If his history with the France team goes like a fiasco – with responsibilities shared between him and Didier Deschamps, Karim Benzema leaves Madrid as a legend. For total respect. And indelible memories. If statistics are not everything, they also sometimes have the merit of setting the scene for a man who arrived from Olympique Lyonnais in the summer of 2009 to leave as lord fourteen years later of the city of Madrid. 647 matches, 353 goals, 149 assists, 5 C1, 4 Liga, 5 Club World Cups, 4 European Super Cups, 2 Spanish Cups, and a Ballon d'Or... So many figures for an extraordinary record.

See also353 goals, 25 titles, 1 Ballon d'Or... The 10 crazy figures of Karim Benzema's career at Real Madrid

But more than the stats, Karim Benzema will remain above all a player of another time, teammate of the shadows for several seasons behind the myth Cristiano Ronaldo, before taking the light with ease at the departure of the Portuguese in 2018. Altruistic as rarely for an attacker, as happy to make his partners shine as to occupy all the attention, "KB9" is a race apart in the caste of immense attackers. A species in danger of extinction at the time of excessive hight lights, long-distance sprinters, sometimes as strong as a light heavyweight boxer.

The contract of a lifetime awaits him in Saudi Arabia

By dint of hard work, demand, sacrifice and patience, Karim Benzema leaves Madrid looking straight into the eyes of all the greatest strikers in the world. If he does not run the fastest, shoots the hardest or jumps the highest, the Gone is undoubtedly one of the most complete scorers of his generation, with an extraordinary intelligence of play. Once his interlude in Saudi Arabia is over with the bank account that will protect hundreds of generations, it will be time to also evoke the gray areas of the former Lyonnais, a communication not always well controlled and a behavior in selection that will not have had the echo of his XXL years in Madrid. But this Thursday, as he leaves the stage of Real Madrid, the biggest club in the history of world football, Karim Benzema leaves through the front door. Like a legend.