After closing his statistics at Real Madrid for eternity on the occasion of his last match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium against Athletic Bilbao this Sunday, Karim Benzema, 35, will probably take the path of Saudi Arabia sitting on a trunk circled with gold and encrusted with diamonds.
Arriving at the Merengue at the age of 21 from OL, the Frenchman has won in fourteen seasons the trifle of 25 trophies: mainly five Champions Leagues, four Spanish championships and three King's Cups.
On a par with Marcelo, Benzema is Real's most successful foreign player, who has seen some of the world's greatest footballers pass through its ranks over the years, Di Stefano, Puskas, Kopa, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zidane.
Just behind Ronaldo in Madrid's pantheon
On a personal level, Benzema, who has continued to progress over his years, finished last season the best of his Madrid season, with 44 goals and 14 assists in 46 games. A season rewarded by the Ballon d'Or 2022 in the form of a culmination.
Before donning the Real shirt one last time on Sunday and passing the captain's armband he has worn since 2021, the Frenchman will have played 647 matches, scored 353 goals and provided 165 assists.
The first French player to reach the 300-goal mark for a single club, Benzema is also the first Frenchman to have scored more than 10 goals in the same Champions League campaign, with 15 goals for the 2021-2022 edition.
In the pantheon of Real's goalscorers, the child of Bron takes place just behind the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, author of 450 goals with the Castilian club (2009-2018) and ahead of Raul, 323 goals, which he surpassed last season.