Despite Cristiano Ronaldo’s exit from Real Madrid in 2018, Karim Benzema has been given the opportunity to shine as the club’s focal point and show what a devastating player he can be.
When the Portuguese were at the Bernabeu, the striker had to deliver help and be the right-hand man despite playing as a natural center forward but now the entire team is built around his needs.
The timing and magnitude of his goals have been particularly spectacular – he scored a hat-trick to help Los Blancos come back from a 2-0 gap to defeat PSG 3-2 on aggregate in the last 16.
Benzema scored a hat-trick in the first leg of the quarter-final against Chelsea, then scored the extra-time winner in the second leg.
After scoring twice in the first leg, he then scored a stoppage-time winner in the semi-final against Manchester City.
