Benzema wins Ballon d’Or

Real Madrid ace Karim Benzema clinched the Ballon d’Or on Monday evening ahead of Sadio Mane and Kevin De Bruyne Read Full Article at RT.com

Benzema wins Ballon d’Or

The striker claimed football’s highest individual honor in Paris

Karim Benzema claimed football’s highest individual honor, the Ballon d’Or, for the first time in his career on Monday.

The Real Madrid and France striker, 34, enjoyed a remarkable season in 2021/2022 where he helped his country to the UEFA Nations League title and his club to a 14th Champions League crown plus the La Liga and Spanish Super Cup titles.

A panel of 100 journalists appointed by magazine France Football voted in favor of the number nine ahead of Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane and Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne.

Enduring a 14-year wait to get his hands on the trophy since joining Madrid from boyhood club Lyon in 2009, Benzema, with a suit and round glasses inspired by his music idol in the late Tupac Shakur, claimed that “age is just a number” as the oldest Ballon d’Or winner since the first, Stanley Matthews, in 1956.