blatant penalty.
au revoir france!!
au revoir france!!
Spain the fukk out of France
terrible penalty call
These Spanish c*nts going to do this all the way to the final aren't they
Gomez will end this Spanish fukkery
An era of hype and hot air.Brilliant Benzema standing on the verge of greatness
When Manchester United travel to Stade Gerland on Wednesday, they will have to find a way to suppress the most complete young striker in the world today, as Paul Doyle explains
Paul Doyle
guardian.co.uk, Tue 19 Feb 2008 10.28 GMT
Your hyperbole-and-fatuous-cliché detector may block this out but I'm going to blurt it anyway: the new Ronaldo has arrived. Just as it was sad to see the great Brazilian stricken by a possibly career-ending injury last week, so this week we may have occasion to rejoice at the spectacle of a young French striker proving that he has all the attributes to tormet the planent's best defences like no forward since, yes, Ronaldo.
Already Karim Benzema has been dubbed le phénomène and l'extraterrestre in his homeland; Lyon's Champions League clash with Manchester United this week is his chance to challenge watchers around the world to come up with a more inspired nickname. Many are already familiar with him, of course - Rangers fans probably wish they weren't, for it was against them that Benzema produced his best European performance to date. With Lyon needing to win at Ibrox in the last group game to progress, Benzema led the line superbly, using his strength, speed and balance to bully defenders right across the back four, his intelligence to knit together Lyon's offensive moves and supreme finishing skills to plunder two goals and tee up another. For a 19-year-old playing the highest-stakes match of his life, it was an amazingly accomplished exhibition.
Followers of French football weren't surprised. On Lyon's books since the age of nine, Benzema has long been tipped for the top. He hit 14 goals in 18 matches for the France Under-17s, with whom he became European champion in 2004. He signed his first professional contract with Lyon a few months later and though he was restricted to just six senior appearances in the 2004-05 season - and didn't score - he confirmed in his debut that he was special by coming on as a substitute in the dying minutes to dink the ball cheekily over a flummoxed Metz defender before centring neatly for Bryan Bergougnoux to stab in a winner.
Fast forward two years to the start of this season and Metz were again the victims as Benzema bagged the first hat-trick of his career. His league total for the campaign now stands at 16 from 21 starts, making him Ligue 1's top scorer and Gérard Houllier a fool; for last season Houllier insisted Benzema wasn't ready for the big time and only used him fitfully, preferring to place his trust in ... Milan Baros.
Now Benzema is not only the No1 striker in Ligue 1 but also the top forward in the national team. Raymond Domenech's mind is never easy to read but, when contemplating the possible offensive line-up for the recent friendly against Spain, France Football suggested that the only question facing the manager should be: "Benzema et qui?" ("Benzema and who?"). Ever the contrarian, Domenech started with Nicolas Anelka and Thierry Henry before replacing the former with Benzema in the 60th minute - almost immediately the youngster's vivacity and incisiveness enlivened a drab game as he forced a smart save from Iker Casillas with a powerful left-foot shot before, in added time, sending a fine header crashing against the crossbar.
That was his ninth appearance for Les Bleus and already he's netted three goals. Henry, France's record goalscorer, had just one cap and no goals at the same age.
Benzema's great strength is, well, that he has lots of strengths. His control and balance are impeccable even when at top speed. He can rifle in from long-range with his left (as against Auxerre on the first day of the season) or his right (as against Rangers at Ibrox) and he also excels in the air (as against Le Mans in September), with dainty lobs (savour this gem against Lorient) or Gerd Müller-esque scrambles; he can create space for himself with sheer brute force, explosive acceleration, canny movement or his precious awareness and agility (à la his back-heeled nutmeg that took out two defenders before his goal against Lens).
He even takes a mean free-kick. And he creates as many as he scores and fits in to any formation. In short, he has the power and mobility of Didier Drogba, the finesse of Andriy Shevchenko in his pomp and the finishing instinct of Ruud van Nistelrooy. His goals against Rangers and within eight minutes of his France debut (against Austria last March) - the biggest games of his fledgling career - suggest he may even have the Ronaldoesque gift of scoring when the pressure is at its most rarefied.
"He's my idol, the best player of all time as far I'm concerned," Benzema recently said of Ronaldo. "I've got loads of DVDs of him in action and I watch them all the time. It's a little embarrassing when people compare me to him - I've still got plenty of room for progress and I'm just trying to continue working hard; if I can have a career a little bit like his, well, that would be extraordinary." Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and AC Milan are among those who reckon Benzema could have a career a little like his idol's. All are known to have made inquiries about him, each being met with Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas's assertion that the player will not be sold until Les Gones win the Champions League. And even then only for a world-record fee.
Winning the Champions League seems unlikely this term with Lyon's defence being as rickety as it is (gee, who would have thought that January addition of Jean-Alain Boumsong wouldn't shore things up?) but with Benzema up front, his fellow 20-year-old Hatem Ben Arfa out wide and the majestic, if ageing, Juninho in the middle ably supported by Jérémy Toulalan (who could accurately be described as the French Owen Hargreaves if he didn't occasionally pop up with a goal), they'll certainly cause United problems on Wednesday. Some say Ronaldo's last truly legendary performance was for Real Madrid against United in 2003 when, famously, he hit a hat-trick that wrung a standing ovation from the Old Trafford faithful. Perhaps on Wednesday United fans will be similarly privileged to witness the new Ronaldo produce his first truly legendary performance. If injury spares him, many more should follow.