Karim Benzema is living a unique moment.
The Frenchman has been superb this year, Real Madrid’s leading man as they push to win La Liga and the Champions League.
This was evident again on Tuesday night against Manchester City when his brace proved integral in setting up Madrid’s second leg of their Champions League semi-final back at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Madrid have scored eleven goals in the knockout phase of this season’s Champions League, according to Diario AS, and Benzema has scored nine of them. He’s one away from equalling the best-ever tally at this stage of the competition of ten.
That belongs to a certain Cristiano Ronaldo, who hit that tally on the way to Madrid’s 12th Champions League title in 2016/17.
Cristiano also owns the record for the most goals in a single Champions League campaign at 17 from the 2013/14 campaign. Benzema is three behind that having 14 to his name with (potentially) two more games to go. And that’s not all.
Benzema hit 40 goals on Tuesday, becoming the second-oldest player to reach that tally from the four major European leagues across all competitions. The record is held by Ferenc Puskas, who scored 41 in the 1960/61 season at 34 years and 127 days old.