🏆 Ballon d'OneFootball: A golden oldie in 13th place | OneFootball

Welcome to the fourth annual edition of the Ballon d’OneFootball as we begin our countdown of the top 25 players in the world right now. Here’s an explainer how we decided on a top 25.

Here’s the list so far.

And today we have …

13th: Karim Benzema, Real Madrid and France

(Last year: 4th)

It might seem odd for the reigning Ballon d’Or winner to be sitting in 13th position in this list but it was an up-and-down year for one of the best and most controversial players of his era.

Coming into the 2022/23 season, Benzema was riding high, having just led Real Madrid to their 14th (and his fifth) Champions League title, as well as another LaLiga crown, with a run of big-match performances and goalscoring to match anyone in recent memory.

But by the end of an injury-interrupted campaign, both his top-flight European football and international career would be over.

The majority of said injuries took place in the first half of the season, in which time he missed half of Real’s 14 league games and two of six Champions League games, and scored only six goals.

His bad luck continued as a thigh injury in pre-tournament training ruled him out of the World Cup. Rumours of discontent in the camp and a public fall-out with manager Didier Deschamps would lead to Benzema announcing his Les Bleus retirement the day after his country’s final loss.

In spite of all this heartache, he bounced back in devastating fashion upon the resumption of the club season, showing everyone why he was the Ballon d’Or and that he had lost none of his magical talents.

From late December onwards, 25 goals came to give him yet another 30+ goal campaign.

His 14 strikes in 17 league games (including two hat-tricks) could not prevent the title from going to arch-rivals Barcelona while in the Champions League, Manchester City finally vanquished Los Blancos in resounding fashion at the semi-final stage.

Benzema did have joy against the other English sides, however, being central to Real’s stunning 5-2 win at Anfield and inflicting pain on Chelsea as he did in 2022.

Success came in the cup competitions with the 35-year-old netting in both European Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup finals against Eintracht Frankfurt and Al-Hilal respectively.

The Spanish Cup was also lifted by Benzema in his sole season as club captain, and while he didn’t score in the final against Osasuna, he did score a stunning hat-trick at the Nou Camp in a 4-0 win over Barça. Not bad.

Throughout all of this, he displayed the play which has set him apart from most players of his own and any generation.

His perfect blend of creativity, movement, positional sense and ruthless finishing is a joy to watch. If ever a player knew exactly what they were doing at all times on a pitch, it is Karim Benzema.

As he bids adieu to European football and sets off for Saudi Arabia and Al-Ittihad, we pay homage to a true great. Karim the Dream.