PARIS, Nov 16: When Karim Benzema held up the Ballon d’Or award last month, the crowd in the Parisian theater rose to applaud him. Now he hopes to lift France fans out of their seats at the World Cup.
That crowded theater seemed a fitting location for Benzema’s crowning moment of personal glory, considering he was once the symbol of national disapproval — long rejected and maligned by the French public following a sex tape scandal.
After a dramatic fall from grace that led to a long exclusion from the national team until his recall last year, there he was, milking their applause.
Calm and poised, intellectual-looking with thin-rimmed glasses, Benzema finally being celebrated as a national icon — only the fifth Frenchman to win the award as the best player in Europe and the first since Zinedine Zidane, his idol, in 1998.
“There were times when it was much harder for me. There was a period when I wasn’t in the national team, but I never gave up,” Benzema said when collecting the Ballon d’Or. “(Zidane) kept telling me to enjoy my football, that one day I could win this trophy. It only made me stronger mentally.”
Since his recall to the national team, Benzema has scored 10 goals in 16 games and he enters the World Cup as arguably the world’s most complete forward along with Lionel Messi.
“I don’t just think about scoring, although I can do it,” Benzema said. “I prefer to help my teammates.”
Benzema is 34 years old, and he will turn 35 the day after this year’s World Cup final. “I don’t think there’s an age limit. You see more and more players improving after their 30s. It’s a question of determination,” Benzema said. “I train much harder than others. You have to work that bit harder and keep your dream in mind.” (AP)
