Almost every month, Karim Benzema enters a little more into the history and legend of Real Madrid. After his exploits in the Champions League in recent weeks, against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City, after recovering just before the kick-off of the meeting against Levante on Thursday May 12 the trophy for player of the month, Benzema became the second top scorer in the history of Real Madrid, tied with Raul. He scored his 323rd goal in his 603rd game for Los Merengues.
The Santiago-Bernabéu stadium waited until the 20th minute of the match between Real and Levante, at the end of the 36th day of La Liga, to celebrate its French striker. On a cross from Vinicius from the left, Benzema headed his team’s second goal in this match, allowing him to come back up to Raul, author of 323 goals in 741 games with Real between 1994 and 2010.
Raul Benzema
323 goles de blanco pic.twitter.com/hChub0cn7t
— Real Madrid CF (@realmadrid) May 12, 2022
Benzema will therefore have taken less than thirteen years, since his arrival in 2009 in Madrid, to join Raul with whom he will have played a season. During the current 2021-2022 financial year, the Frenchman had already passed Carlos Santillana (290 goals) and Alfredo Di Stefano (308 goals) in the scorer rankings in the history of Real. Cristiano Ronaldo, who leads this ranking, is far ahead, with 450 goals.
The evening could even have been even more beautiful for Benzema, who came very close to a 324th goal in the 68th minute of play. Instantly, the Real striker eliminated the opposing goalkeeper before serving Vinicius for the second goal from the Brazilian tonight, who finished the game with a hat-trick. Six minutes later, Benzema gave way and got a standing ovation from the Santiago-Bernabéu stadium, once again witnessing a great performance from Benzema.
The latter is now at 44 goals and 15 assists in 44 games in all competitions. He is also the top scorer in La Liga, by far, with 27 goals. Benzema is having the best season of his career, and will have three more games to improve his statistics. In Cadiz this weekend then against Celta Vigo for the last day of La Liga. Before the highly anticipated Champions League final on May 28.
323 – Karim Benzema has equaled Raúl González as the second @realmadriden Top Scorer (323), only Cristiano Ronaldo netted more for “The Whites” ever (450). Sir#RealMadridLevante#RM pic.twitter.com/fyPf0g1WJG
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) May 12, 2022