5 things that have happened since Karim Benzema last scored in La Liga

The bigger you are, the harder you fall. And harder it is for the fans to witness the fall. But Karim Benzema hasn't just fallen off his perch, he's fallen hard; drowning into the depths of despair week after week in what has been an unthinkably woeful period for him in front of goal.

The Frenchman is, no doubt, enduring the toughest days of his career, as a return of solitary goal in the last three and a half months would suggest. But what's worse is he isn't showing any signs of overcoming them.

Benzema continues to lead the charge in important games for Real Madrid and is also ably supported by his team-mates. But whenever the former Lyon forward tries his luck, the ball just doesn’t seem to go in. Especially in La Liga, where he’s struck just twice all season and none since 25th November 2017.

A lot of events have transpired in football since then. Here’s a look at the top 5 of them:

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#5 Benevento picked up their first pair of victories in Serie A

Benevento ended their 18-games winless run with 1-0 win over Chievo

The season of 2017/18 in the Italian top-flight has two major significance pertaining to Benevento – the Campania outfit graced the league for the very first time in its history, and in the meantime, Benevento also recorded the worst ever start to Serie A by a debut team when it lost the opening 14 games of the season!

Never had a team gotten off to a more terrible beginning in their maiden expedition in the top-tier, but Benevento soon picked up their first point when it held AC Milan at the death to claim a famous point.

Another three defeats followed in the aftermath, as there was no trace of light in the horizon. But in the final game of 2017, Benevento hosted struggling counterparts Chievo, and Massimo Coda’s strike earned a historic victory; their first in Serie A.

The minnows soon followed that up in the New Year with a 3-2 defeat of Sampdoria in the first game of 2018, again at home, but did little to quell the prospects of a relegation as they lost the next four on the trot to remain rotted at the bottom of the table.

#4 Batshuayi joined Dortmund and has struck five times already

Mitchy Batshuayi has hit the ground running at Borussia Dortmund

After watching his future at Chelsea remain as bleak as ever, Mitchy Batshuayi joined Borussia Dortmund on loan in January for the remainder of the season and has already bagged an incredible five goals in three outings with his new employers.

The Belgian burst onto the scene with a brace in the 3-2 victory over FC Koln on his debut at the start of the month, before finding the net once again against Hamburg in what was also his first goal at home.

But Batshuayi truly consolidated his arrival when he bagged another double, but this time in a European game to Atalanta, as the Belgian forward is taking his Dortmund stint by storm right from the off.

In that same time frame, Benzema too played thrice, and forget scoring, he managed to muster only one shot at goal.

#3 Villareal won at the Bernabeu for the very first time

Villareal won at the Bernabeu for the first time in their history

In what's turning out to be the worst season since 2008/09, Real Madrid have also had to contend with some really embarrassing results on the way.

A shock 2-1 defeat to Leganes at home knocked the Merengues out of the Copa del Rey, but Villareal's 0-1 win at the same venue a few days earlier is just as astonishing, for that was the first ever triumph at the fabled Santiago Bernabeu in Yellow Submarine's all history.

Los Blancos although dominated the proceedings with a greater share of possession and relentless efforts at goal, one moment of sloppiness allowed Pablo Fornals to latch on to a loose ball by Keylor Navas and beautifully dink it into the back of the net with only three minutes left on the clock.

The hosts huffed and puffed in the final moments to force a share of spoils, but it was too little too late.

Thank god for Benzema, he wasn't even on the pitch that fateful day to witness the humiliation.

#2 Manchester City’s historic 22-game unbeaten Premier League streak came to an end

Manchester City had set a new record for going the first 22 EPL games unbeaten

The Manchester City of 2017/18 is unlike what we've seen before. The team isn't only perfectly balanced in all departments, but also embarked on a kind of run that Premier League hasn't been witness to before – a streak of 22 games unbeaten since the start of the campaign, a record, which also encompasses another milestone-setting run of 18 victories on the trot, eclipsing the 14 set by Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ in 2004.

The incredible run catapulted them into a whole new league, opening up a staggering gap of 15 points at the top and all but sewing up the title.

But Pep Guardiola's swashbuckling side hit the skids when they ran into an effervescent Liverpool side at the Anfield, where they haven’t won since 2003.

The Reds stormed to a 4-1 lead in what was turning out to be a cakewalk for Klopp's men, and though City fought back to reduce the deficit to only one goal, but couldn't avoid going down as their historic 22-match unbeaten streak in the Premier League had finally ended.

#1 Barcelona lost for the first time in the 2017/18 season

Espanyol sent shockwaves by beating Barcelona to end their unbeaten run

Whilst not quite as remarkable as that of Skyblues, but another fine run was being scripted by Barcelona when they went 31 games unbeaten in all competitions since the start of the campaign, scoring in each of them as well.

Although they did go down to arch-rivals Real Madrid in both legs of the Spanish Supercup, the season is traditionally considered commencing with the first game of the league and going by the timeline since, the Blaugrana were undefeated till 17 January 2018.

That day, city rivals Espanyol sprung a surprise when they condemned their mightier neighbors to a shock 1-0 defeat in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey through a late goal by Melendo, as Barcelona ended up on the losing side of a game for the very first time in the campaign, bringing their amazing run of 31 undefeated matches to a close.