- Benzema's paneka against Man City
- Real Madrid won record 14th title
- Benzema won Ballon d'Or 2022
WHAT HAPPENED? The France international forward revealed that he wanted to emulate Zinedine Zidane's penalty goal from the 2006 World Cup final against Italy and was waiting for a big game to deliver the same. And he did just that late on in the first leg of Real's semi-final clash with City, clipping his penalty over Ederson to make it 4-3 on the night, with Los Blancos dramatically overturning that one-goal deficit in the home leg.
WHAT THEY SAID: Speaking to streamer Zack Nani, Benzema said: "If you don't take a penalty you can't miss them. And the opposing goalkeeper is paid to save penalties, so unless you take a penalty I don't know where... For this penalty, I look at the score, time, etc.
"I wanted to do a Panenka, it had been a while. But I was waiting for a big match, so that it would stay, like for Zizou's Panenka in the final. I was waiting and there I had an opportunity while during the weekend before, a goalkeeper had stopped me for two penalties. So I was waiting, zero pressure. I put the ball down, Panenka, goal."
THE BIGGER PICTURE: The Frenchman, who won the Ballon d'Or this year, has had injury concerns this season. He has been sidelined twice, most recently due to a muscle fatigue.
IN TWO PHOTOS:
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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR BENZEMA? Benzema will be in Real Madrid's matchday squad in their La Liga clash against Rao Vallecano on November 7.