Real Madrid captain, Karim Benzema on Monday night emerged winner of the Ballon d’Or at a glittering event in Paris.
He is the second player outside of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to be awarded the prize in the past 15 years. Benzema won the trophy after leading Real Madrid to the LaLiga and Champions League double last season and scoring a remarkable 44 goals in 46 appearances for the Spanish club.
Benzema finished ahead of Sadio Mane, Kevin De Bruyne, and Robert Lewandowski at the Paris ceremony to crown a sensational year for the France international, as he followed his Real Madrid team-mate Luka Modric by breaking through Messi and Ronaldo’s dominance of football’s greatest individual prize.
The 34-year-old is also the oldest winner of the Ballon d’Or since Stanley Matthews won the inaugural award in 1956, as well as the first French winner of the prize since Zinedine Zidane in 1998. Zidane, who managed Benzema across two spells at Real Madrid, was in Paris to present the striker with the award.
The Real Madrid captain was awarded the prize by his idol Zinedine Zidane, who was the last French player to win the Ballon d’Or in 1998.
Earlier, Barcelona captain Alexia Putellas became the first two-time winner of the Ballon d’Or Feminin after taking back-to-back awards. England and Arsenal forward Beth Mead, who was the top scorer at Euro 2020, finished second, ahead of the Chelsea striker Sam Kerr. Barcelona midfielder Gavi won the Kopa Trophy for best young player.
Leave a Reply