MY ACCOUNT
John Aldridge has compared Real Madrid talisman Karim Benzema to a “bottle of Rioja” who has got better with age ahead of the Champions League final against Liverpool.
France striker Benzema has scored a staggering 44 goals in 45 appearances for Los Blancos this season.
The Madrid captain is the leading scorer in the 2021-22 Champions League, finding the back of the net 15 times in 11 matches – including back-to-back hat-tricks against Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.
Benzema’s penalty settled a pulsating semi-final second leg against Manchester City and the 34-year-old also helped himself to a brace in the first leg.
Former Liverpool striker Aldridge spoke of his admiration for the prolific Benzema ahead of Saturday’s Champions League showdown at Stade de France.
He said: “I always thought that Benzema was a good player. But what he’s done the last couple of years, and they’ve had the big players leave, he’s become like a bottle of wine.
“He’s matured very well. He’s got better with age, which I did, because I was a late developer. I found the older I got, the more experience I got, the better I was.
“I played until I was nearly 40. He has a great football brain and all I can say is, he’s like a nice bottle of Rioja, red, that is. He’s matured very, very well. And it’s very expensive.”
Aldridge stressed that the Reds must not allow 36-year-old midfield maestro Luka Modric to dictate the final in Paris.
He added: “It’s down the middle, we can hurt them in certain places. Vinicius [Junior] and Benzema, for me are our main threat.
“They have great players all over the pitch. In midfield, Modric, what a player, what a player he is, whatever age he is, I watched him against Man City, you let him run the show.
“And I’ve seen him run the show for Tottenham at Liverpool, one of the best appearances I’ve ever seen from an away player. Some years ago, we got beat, and he was unbelievable.
“So, you can’t give him any room. You’ve got to watch the space in behind Trent [Alexander-Arnold], obviously where they’ll capitalise with the pace of Vinicius.
“And Benzema, you can’t give him any room in the box, they’re the main threats. When you’ve got [Sadio] Mane, [Diogo] Jota, [Luis] Diaz and [Mohamed] Salah, they’ve got a little bit to think about as well.”
Aldridge also hailed Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti, who won the LaLiga title for the first time this season after leaving Everton for a second spell in the Spanish capital.
He said: “Apart from Everton? It’s mad with Ancelotti, he went to Everton and walked away, and he got another crack at Madrid which to be quite honest, how that has happened is like, it’s crazy isn’t it?
“And he’s been brilliant. You have to say he’s very intelligent, he’s a class act, he’s been in these occasions quite a few times as we know.
“He has set the stall out, he’s right up there with the best coaches and managers in the world. Absolutely.”
