Karim Benzema Still Has Plenty To Offer At The Bernabeu

Playing for a club with a stature such as Real Madrid's means that there are great expectations on the players as a result.

Real Madrid are Spain's royal team, the image they wish to present is one of class; Los Blancos and the classic white kit which is synonymous throughout history as Madrid have enjoyed fantastic success. 

Gareth Bale was hypnotised by this rather lovely white kit and he made the jump over to Spain last summer. I'm sure the £300,000-a-week contract helped too, but there is no denying that Madrid are one of the biggest, best and most recognised clubs in the world.

Anyway, Karim Benzema has been receiving a fair bit of stick for not performing to the level of say, Cristiano Ronaldo, and, of course, that is completely unfair. Benzema, it is often forgotten, is still only 25 and has been Madrid's number nine for four years now, making 138 appearances and scoring 63 goals. That is a good return, a great return in fact, but this is football and Madrid fans are especially harsh on those who pull on the famous white shirt.

Perhaps all the criticism is a result of Madrid's shortcomings in Europe over the past decade or so, as they continue their long search for that ever elusive tenth Champions League trophy. Jose Mourinho, master of Europe, wasn't able to win the tournament despite reaching the semi-finals twice. But why should Benzema receive so much stick when surely the whole team is culpable?

Who knows? In my eyes, Benzema is still a fine player and Lyon must be kicking themselves after allowing him and Hatem Ben Arfa to leave for pastures new. The tandem were a big part of those fantastic Lyon teams who won lots of French titles.

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