What a ride it has been for Karim Benzema in 2022, the French striker was pivotal in Real Madrid’s winning of the UEFA Champions League and LaLiga last season. Individually, Benzema had 44 goals and 15 assists across all competitions, lining him up as the best player in Europe for 2021/22.
The Ballon d’Or 2022 considered the performance from the previous season, not the calendar year, of which Benzema had little equal given Lionel Messi’s injury plagued season and Erling Haaland being sidelined as well.
Kylian Mbappé had a great individual season for PSG, but they were knocked out by Real Madrid and Benzema in the Champions League, giving the Frenchman a leg up on the award.
Karim Benzema’s complete season overview
The Real Madrid striker scored 27 goals in LaLiga, winning his first Pichichi, he also had a phenomenal season in the Champions League with 15 goals. 10 of these 5 goals were in critical knockout stage games, while scoring back-to-back hat tricks in the competition as well.
Karim Benzema of Real Madrid holds the UEFA Champions League trophy (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
Benzema also scored for the French national team, 6 goals in the Nations League as well as World Cup qualifying. The French striker has over 400 goals in his career, and this was his first Ballon d’Or after being nominated nine times before.
Other candidates for the award included: Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé, Mohamed Salah, and Robert Lewandowski.Honorable mention candidates were: Harry Kane, Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, Vinicius Junior, Bernardo Sila, and Antonio Rudiger.
