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Toni Kroos believes Karim Benzema has filled the Cristiano Ronaldo void at Real Madrid “to perfection” after enjoying a stunning 2021-22 season that has him in Ballon d’Or contention.
Heading into Saturday’s Champions League final, Benzema has scored 44 goals from 45 matches across all competitions this term, which is 12 more than his previous best for a single campaign.
Similarly, his record of 0.98 goals per game is also comfortably the best he has managed over the course of one season.
Add to that a haul of 15 assists, Benzema’s 59 goal involvements is second only to Kylian Mbappe (60 – 39 goals, 21 assists), highlighting just how much of a double threat Los Blancos’ talisman has been.
Among his goals have been some crucial strikes as well. He netted consecutive hat-tricks against Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea in the Champions League, before also scoring three times over the course of the semi-final defeat of Manchester City.
He has not always been Madrid’s main man in attack, with Benzema speaking openly in the past about having to sacrifice his own output for Ronaldo during their time together at the Santiago Bernabeu – he scored just five league goals in the 2017-18 season, for example.
But Kroos admires how the Frenchman has stepped up.
“It wasn’t easy to become an even better player,” Kroos told ZDF. “I’ve seen him for eight seasons in all kinds of different roles. Not in other positions, but in terms of the jobs he did on the pitch.
“There were times when he had to pull the bandwagon with his goals and others in which he used to look more to his right and left.
“Cristiano scored 50 goals per season for us and Gareth [Bale] was also on the left in his best years. Those two pillars fell from us.
“Others came like Vinicius [Junior] or Rodrygo, who are evolving very well, but we weren’t able to cover Cristiano’s 50 goals with just one player until Karim took on that role to perfection.”
Saturday’s game will be the third European Cup/Champions League final to be contested between Madrid and Liverpool, making it the most common match-up in UEFA’s club showpiece.
Although Madrid won LaLiga with four matches to spare, there is a consensus they have exceeded expectations in the Champions League, particularly given they have had great escapes in all three knockout rounds.
Despite that, Kroos does not necessarily consider Liverpool favourites, even if he does accept they have been Europe’s best this season.
“Honestly, I think this Liverpool are a better team than in 2018,” he added, looking back to Madrid’s 3-1 final victory in Kyiv.
“They managed to retain their best players and they signed a few more. Thiago [Alcantara] sets the standards in midfield, they are still very strong at the back and I think that, in terms of record, they were the best team in Europe this season.
“But it’s still just one game and you also have to take into account that we eliminated them last season in the quarter-finals. It’s 50-50.”
He continued: “In a Champions League final you give everything, especially considering that we already had to give everything on more than one occasion to reach the final.
“Now we’re there and we want to win the cup, yes, all being aware of the great rival we face.”
