Real Madrid Superstar Karim Benzema Channels Tupac With Outfit While Winning Ballon d’Or

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Real Madrid superstar striker Karim Benzema had a season to remember in 2021-22.

The Frenchman they call Mercedes Benzema was unstoppable for Los Blancos. He scored 27 goals in 32 matches in La Liga to lead La Real to a record 35th La Liga championship. He also scored a jaw-dropping 15 goals in just 12 UEFA Champions League matches as Real won its record 14th Champions League title. That’s double AC Milan in second place with seven.

Incredible Benzema Run Wins Champions League For Real Madrid

But Benzema wasn’t just scoring meaningless tap-ins, either. Quite the opposite. He scored an incredible 18-minute hat trick in the Round of 16 to turn around a 1-0 deficit against French powerhouse Paris Saint-Germain. He then scored a first-leg hat trick against reigning champions Chelsea in the quarterfinals. The Blues came all the way back to send the tie to extra time in leg two. But Benzema buried the London club with a goal early in extra time.

He wasn’t done there, however.

Real drew tournament favorites and reigning Premier League champion champions Manchester City in the semifinals. The Sky Blues won the first leg, but two goals from Benzema helped limit the damage. Real returned home for the second leg trailing 4-3.

All hope appeared lost with the home club trailing 5-3 on aggregate late in the second match. But then Madrid pulled off a miracle. Young Brazilian winger Rodrygo scored two goals in a span of two minutes to send the match in extra time. That’s where Benzema delivered the sauciest penalty kick you’ll ever see to send Los Blancos to the final against Liverpool.

Benzema did not score in the final against Liverpool. But teammate Vinicius scored the lone goal of the match in the 59th minute as Madrid took out the Reds.

The victory completed one of the best individual runs of all time for Benzema. He earned his reward on Monday afternoon.

Karim Benzema Wins Ballon d’Or In Tupac Tribute Outfit

The Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) is an award given annually since 1956 by the French magazine France Football. Up until 1995, it was awarded to the European Footballer of the Year. Since then, it’s expanded to include all players. Legends such a Johan Cruyff, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have all won the award.

Messi won the award in 2021 for a record seventh time.

But in 2022, Benzema entered the ceremony as the overwhelming favorite to win for the first time in his career. And he showed up in style.

The charismatic Frenchman of Algerian descent showed up to the ceremony rocking the same suit, neck piece and glasses worn by rapper Tupac at the 23rd annual American Music Awards in 1996.

Fans couldn’t believe the level of sauce.

Benzema, unsurprisingly, won the award ahead of Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane and Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne.

He became the first French winner of the award since another Real Madrid legend, Zinedine Zidane, won the award while playing for Italian club Juventus in 1998.