Karim Benzema: Panenkas, hat-tricks and a Ballon d’Or?

Real Madrid may have lost 4-3 to Manchester City in the first leg of the Uefa Champions League semi-finals, but their hopes of winning the competition for a record 14th time have been kept alive once again by the exploits of Karim Benzema. 

The French striker, 34, scored two goals in a classic at the Etihad Stadium. He netted his first on 33 minutes after sweeping home Ferland Mendy’s cross. His second, a brilliant “Panenka” penalty, ensured a grandstand second leg next Wednesday in Spain. 

‘Ice cold, this guy’

Showing “nerves of steel” with eight minutes remaining, Real captain Benzema “dinked” his spot-kick over City keeper Ederson to make it 4-3 on the night, said BBC Sport. The “nonchalance summed up a sensational match” between two of Europe’s heavyweights.

Speaking on BT Sport, former England defender Rio Ferdinand praised the forward’s confidence for the vital spot kick. He’s “ice cold, this guy”, Ferdinand said of the four-time Champions League winner. “Even if it was in the last minute, he would’ve still executed it.”

With context, the “audacious” Panenka is “even more breathtaking” when you consider that he has missed three out of his last four penalties, including two in the same game against Osasuna last week, said Daniel Davis in the Daily Mail. 

Benzema said it was “mental confidence, that’s all” on his Panenka. “I have a lot of confidence in myself so I do it and it turns out well.” He also revealed that he changed his technique after being studied by opposition goalkeepers. Even he admitted that his penalty was “cold blooded”.

One of the world’s great strikers 

Death, taxes, Benzema scoring in the Champions League. “Some things are just certainties in life,” said Anish Dogra on talkSPORT. After his brace in Manchester, he has now netted 14 goals in the competition this season, surpassing Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski. 

Benzema netted five times in the group stages, but it’s been in the knockouts where he has really made the headlines. In the round of 16 he netted a second-leg hat-trick as Real came back to beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 on aggregate. Then in the quarter-finals against Chelsea he scored another hat-trick in the first leg at Stamford Bridge and a 96th-minute extra-time header at the Bernabéu to send Real through to the semi-finals 5-4 on aggregate. 

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/sport/football/956556/karim-benzema-real-madrid-panenka-hat-tricks-ballon-dor