Karim Benzema, on Sunday, completed his first hattrick in over a year
1. He is of Algerian descent
Karim Benzema, like many other players in the French national team, was born to
African parents. His parents, who are Algerian, migrated to France and gave birth to Karim there.
As a result of this, Karim Benzema was eligible to play for any of France’s or
Algeria’s national teams. As you know, he opted for France and just got called
back to the French squad this year for the Euros after being out for 5 years.
2. He got bullied as a child
Yes, the Big Benz you see today was bullied a lot as a child. He grew up in a very unfriendly
neighborhood, and people used to make fun of him for being fat and chubby.
Also, because he looked different due to his Arab origin, he faced a lot of discrimination, too.
Amidst all of this, Karim found football at a very early age and started playing when he was 8.
This was what helped him get through his rough childhood. Little did he know
that it was also what was going to make him rich and world famous.
3. He was once a ball boy
The superstar baller that you see dominating Europe right now was
once a ball boy for French side Olympique Lyonnais. Benzema was a member of Lyon’s
youth team at the time and used to work as the ball boy for some senior team games.
A few years later, he was promoted to the senior team and became a very important player for them,
wearing the number 10 jersey.
4. Insane goal record
Karim was signed by Real Madrid in 2009, and in Spain,
no one has scored a faster goal in a Clasico, one of the biggest fixtures in world football.
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Now, back to the things you didn’t know about Karim Benzema.
5. The Zahia Affair
Benzema was once involved with Zahia Dehar,
a French-Algerian designer and model who was once a prostitute.
The lady who is now 29 years old, was underraged when Karim solicited her for sex.
But apparently, that was unbeknownst to him. She lied about her age to him and
even confessed to this in a letter which she claimed to have written to Raymond Domenech
who was France’s national team coach at the time.
The case was taken to court in 2010 and it dragged out for years. And it wasn’t
just Benzema. His teammates; Sydney Govou, Ben Arfa, and Franck Ribery,
were also indicted for having relations with the same woman when she was underaged.
Anyway, in January of 2014, after 10 days of trial, charges against Karim Benzema
and Franck Ribery were eventually dropped completely. The judge said that there wasn’t
sufficient evidence that the French players knew that Zahia was underaged at the time.
6. He got arrested in 2015
In his 20s, Benzema seemed to not be able to stay out of trouble. Barely 2 years after
charges against him were dropped, Karim was arrested by the French police. He was
alleged to have been involved in blackmailing his then French teammate, Mathieu Valbuena.
The whole case was in relation to an alleged sex-tape of Valbuena.
As the case developed in court, the president of the French Football
Federation went ahead to suspend Benzema from the national team indefinitely in 2015.
As you probably know, that suspension was later lifted and he was called up to the
squad by Didier Deschamps for the Euro 2020 tournament where he scored 4 goals.
His 5 years away from the national team meant that Karim got to miss
out on a very successful period in Les Bleus history. Getting to the final of Euro 2016
and winning the World Cup for the first time in 20 years in 2018.
Anyway, the case is still in court and it was announced in January,
by the public prosecutor’s office, that Benzema will face trial for his
alleged involvement in the attempt to blackmail his former teammate.
7. Rihanna love affair?
It was rumored that the French footballer once dated Barbadian singer and business mogul,
Rihanna. The pair met some time in 2015 and were seen together on a couple of occasions
in the following years after that. Rihanna even went to Spain to watch
some Real Madrid games during that period, presumably to support Benzema.
It was rumored that they dated for about 2 years and then broke up in 2017.
However, the veracity of these rumors were never confirmed by either party.
8. Benzema and his bandage around his fingers and wrist
and landed awkwardly on his pinky finger and twisted it. He was subbed off immediately.
As a result of that injury, his fingers had to be bandaged for some weeks for it to heal properly.
But well, weeks turned to months and months turned to years.
Benzema still always comes out of the tunnel with his bandage wrapped around his wrist and his palm.
Apparently, the injury on his finger required surgery,
but he passed on that because he did not want to miss out on games.
Perhaps that bandage around Benzema’s wrist and fingers reminds you of another player?
Let us know your answer in the comments. Here’s a clue;
he also played and scored in a couple of El Clasico games.
9. He is one of the most stylish footballers
In the football world, Benzema is a fashion icon. The Frenchman
cares a lot about how he looks and is really interested in the flashy life.
Every once in a while, the striker posts videos of him in expensive cars,
wearing expensive designer clothes, and just living large on his social media.
As far as many football fans are concerned, Big Benz is the footballer with the best
drip in the world. However, he is not without competition as players
like Hector Bellerin and Memphis Depay have also shown themselves to be very stylish.
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