KARIM BENZEMA
Famous Spanish football club Real Madrid was signed France striker Karim Benzema with the amount of 41 million euros. Benzema was the striker of the French football club Olympique Lyonnais or Lyon and French national team. By joining the Real Madrid club, he will become Real’s fourth major signing player after Brazil’s Kaka, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Spanish defender Raul Albiol. Benzema was the very successful player of Lyon and he had helped Lyon, to win four consecutive French titles from 2005 to 2008. He had been chased by several top European sides, including Manchester United. He will sign his six-year contract with Real Marid after the medical check up.
BIOGRAPHY
French football striker Karim Benzema was born on 19th December 1987 in Lyon, France. In his childhood, he was trained at local Rhone-Alpes club ‘Bron Terraillon SC’. His performances with Bron’s juvenile team was attracted the attention of ‘Olympique Lyonnais Academy’ and he joined that academy in 1996 at the age of 9. He was quickly gained the attention with his 38 goals in one season with Lyon’s under-16 team and 12 goals in 14 matches with under-18 teams. Then he was selected in the senior squad of ‘Olympique Lyonnais‘ or ‘Lycon‘. He made his league debut for Lyon on 15th January, 2005 in a match against Metz. In that match, he appeared as a substitute and helped Bryan Bergougnoux to score second goal of that match. Then he signed his first professional contract for three-year to ‘Lycon’. The 2007–08 season was good for him. In that season, he was raised as lead striker of that ‘Lycon’ and he was gained 31 goals in 51 games. He topped the league with 20 goals, scored four goals in the ‘UEFA Champions League’, one in the ‘Coupe de la Ligue’, and totaled 6 goals in six ‘Coupe de France’ matches. His other performances of that season included a hat trick against Metz. On March 2008, he was extended his contract with Lyon until 2013 with a one year extension option. After that he became one of the highest paid footballers in France. He was named the ‘Ligue 1 Player’ of the Year, selected to the ‘Team of the Year’, and also awarded the ‘Trophee du Meilleur Buteur’ and ‘Bravo Award’ for his efforts of that season. He also made a good start in 2008–09 season. Lyon won all three league matches with the help of his goals. In addition, he was one of the top scorers in the ‘UEFA Champions League group stage’ with 5 goals. He was scored 17 goals in that season and earned third place among League 1 top scorers. Now famous Spanish football club Real Madrid was signed Karim Benzema with an amount of 41 million euros from Lycon club. His international career was started in 1997 in the match between France and Austria. He scored only one goal in that match that leads France’s victory in that match. He was selected to represent France at Euro 2008, but that Euro cup was not good for France, and they lost to Italy in the last group game.