The Birth of a Ballon d'Or Winner - Benzema's Lyon Years
There is no denying that Karim Benzema is one of the best European players of all time and his fourteen years with Real Madrid cemented his place in that tier. He scored more than two hundred goals for Los Blancos, won five UEFA Champions League trophies, and was also a Ballon d'Or winner for the 2021-22 season, thus reaching new heights as a player.
©
These are the most important facts and moments of Karim Benzema's time at Olympique Lyonnais and how he became one of football's biggest young talents back in the late 2000s.
The Early Days
As a fun fact, Benzema was born in Lyon, France, and quickly worked his way to that team's academy setup. When he was just eight years old, he was playing for the youth team of Bron Terraillon and scored two goals against Lyon, which was a performance that made him sign for them a couple of weeks later.It was around 2004 when Benzema started to make a name for himself as one of France's biggest young talents at the time. As he was playing for Lyon's under-16s at the time, he scored 38 goals in the Championnat National des 16 ans, thus cementing himself as a natural goal scorer, even if that reputation was put into question later on in his career when he started at Real Madrid.
It was through these displays that he started to get the attention of the coaching staff of the senior team, thus starting his journey at the top echelons of French football.
His Development Years
Benzema made his professional debut for Lyon during the 2004-05 season when he was just 17 years old, although he would only end up playing six games across all competitions that year. However, the most interesting part about the setup Benzema was joining was the context of the club at the time.This was the peak of Olympique Lyon as a football club as they were dominating French football and continued to do so for several years, winning multiple Ligue 1 titles in a row. It was a team full of winners, with the likes of Juninho, Florent Malouda, Michael Essien, Eric Abidal, and many more cemented their place as players worth following, with many of them moving to bigger clubs and winning most trophies at top-level football.
That was key for Benzema's development since that meant he was not rushed, and was given time to evolve in a slower pace. He progressively played more and more during these development years while not being pressured to be the one to deliver the goods, which was a key aspect of his growth.
Furthermore, he also grew up at a club where there was the constant demand of winning the league and competing for the highest honors in his country. As a fun fact, his manager at the time, Gerard Houllier, admitted in 2018 that the striker was close to signing for Tottenham Hotspurs in 2007.
"Look at Benzema", Houllier said in 2018. "At one point, Tottenham wanted to take him. He was tempted. But he and his entourage listened to me and Karim stayed in Lyon. Two years later, he signed with Real Madrid. Today, young people want a lot of money and to play all the games."
It is hard to disagree with Houllier when considering how things pan out for Benzema. Furthermore, the following years would prove to be monumental for the French striker's career.
The Key Years
The 2007-08 season was essential for Benzema's endless growth at the time with Lyon. As several players left the side in the summer of 2007, Karim took the 10 shirt and became the team's starting striker, which led to him scoring 31 goals in 51 games across all competitions that season, thus leading to Europe starting to look at him.A very good example of this was in the UEFA Champions League where he scored a goal in the round of 16 against Manchester United, eventual winners of the competition that year. United's manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, praised Benzema's performance and there were a lot of rumors that the Red Devils wanted to sign him.
In fact, there was a saga of United wanting to sign Benzema at the time. To the point that one of the Frenchman's teammates, midfielder Miralem Pjanic, claimed that he was signing for United in the summer of 2009.
"Benzema is close to going to Old Trafford. The English are willing to pay 45 million euros and it is a matter of days before he moves to England," Pjanic said in 2009.
His final season at Lyon continued with some very good performances on an individual level, scoring 23 goals in 47 matches across all competitions, but would see Lyon losing the league title to Girondins Bordeaux. This would be the first time in almost a decade that France would have a new league winner since Lyon were so dominating during that period.
Eventually, most people knew that Benzema's time at France was up and this is when Real Madrid showed up into the picture. Los Blancos were planning to rebuild their side after a considerable debacle the previous season and saw in Benzema the striker for the future, so they ended up spending 35 million euros on him.
The rest, as the saying goes, is history.