Following the Ballon d’Or awarded to Karim Benzema last Tuesday, former France midfielder Zinedine Zidane opened up about his friendship with the Real Madrid striker and recalled the time the two worked together at the club.
Zidane also highlighted the aspects that the two have in common, among which the origin. Benzema and Zidane are descendants of Algerians of the same religion and grew up in modest regions of France.
We have more or less the same background: he’s from Lyon, I’m from Marseille, but apart from that… We both grew up in a neighborhood and it wasn’t easy for us at first. We were simple young people from the suburbs who dreamed of becoming professional footballers and we achieved it with a lot of work. We really have a lot in common, due to our origins: our families come from neighboring villages in Algeria, in small Kabylie, we have spoken about it several times.
Zidana also pointed to the building of Benzema’s leadership profile in the Real Madrid dressing room. For Zidane, the number 9 merengue knows when and how to train.
-Karim is a leader who speaks little – it also brings us together – but always says the right words. When he talks about football, he knows what he’s talking about.
Finally, Zidane finished talking about the Frenchman’s role after Cristiano Ronaldo left Madrid but said Benzema was already important alongside the Portuguese.
Everyone says that the departure of Cristiano (Ronaldo) changed everything for him at Real, but I can’t find it. He was very good when there was Cristiano, he scored goals, he gave assists to Cristiano. I think he has evolved and gained a bit more confidence.
Together, Zidane and Benzema have won 11 titles for Real Madrid, three (2016, 2017, 2018), two UEFA Super Cups (2016, 2017), two Club World Cups (2016, 2017), two Championships of Spain (2017, 2020) and two Spanish Super Cups (2017). , 2020).
