“If your partner is better than you, you have to accept it”

The Frenchman, now at Al-Ittihad, experienced one of Real Madrid’s best periods, always measured by the Champions League. His departure at the end of the 2022-23 season did not close the winning cycle of the Whites, who conquered a new Orejona in 2024. However, last season Madrid fell resoundingly to a superior Arsenal and this year several teams have, a priori, more favoritism.

White people are not having their best time on a sporting or non-sporting level, the latter being decisive for many comebacks which resulted in great titles. On the pitch, in the League, Madrid missed an important advantage in leadership and now he is more than one game away from Barça, while wardrobe problems They place Xabi Alonso in a very compromising situation.

In the first season with Mbappé, the player Madrid sought and awaited for several campaigns, Madrid won two minor titles, both in a single match: the European Super Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup. Neither the League, nor the Cup, nor the Champions League, nor the Club World Cup, with Xabi Alonso already at the head of the team. For this second year with the French star, the prospects don’t seem any better, but we can in no way blame him for anything, given his 25 goals and 4 assists in 21 games to date.

Mbappé pulls the car, but the second row does not accompany like in previous years. And Benzema, one of Madrid’s last captains and who stood out for playing and making the team play from his position of “9”, spoke about it.

Benzema talks Madrid moment and its stars

Karim Benzema gave an interview to the prestigious French newspaper The Team before Al-Ittihad resumed competition after a month of interruption from Saudi football. He was questioned on several topics, including the situation Real Madrid is going through when the season is not even half over.

“What they lack is simply a connection. Between Mbappé, Vinicius, Bellingham and Rodrygo. “Everyone must know what to do on the pitch,” said Benzema, who later delves deeper into the origin of the problem: a question of ego.

“It’s difficult, because everyone has their own personality and characteristics. Everyone wants to be the best, so it’s a bit complicated… Everyone must understand that, in their role, they can contribute, but that it is for the good of the team.“, says Benzema, who is not referring to Vinicius’ incident with Xabi Alonso after his substitution during the Classic at the end of October, but who emphasizes the importance of a veteran who sounds the alarm when necessary. “No player with more experience can tell Bellingham, Mbappé or Vinicius what is wrong…“.

Faced with this, believes Benzema, Xabi Alonso, on the tightrope after losing his authority in the locker room and the latest results, “can’t do anything. It’s a question of players… If your partner is better than you, you have to accept it. The problem is not to accept that the one in front of you scores more goals”. That’s why we have problems when we have five or six great players together.. Everyone brings something. And, in the end, the scorer always receives a little more attention than the others, but he always needs his teammates. “You can’t do it alone.”