Booed off at the Bernabeu: Will Karim Benzema feature against Barcelona?

Karim Benzema

Out of form and close to being out of favour, Karim Benzema‘s season is getting worse as the weeks go by.

The Frenchman has been Real Madrid’s main striker for quite some time. His continued presence in Madrid’s starting 11 prompted Argentinian Gonzalo Higuain to leave for Napoli in search of first team football. But Benzema’s time looks to be running out as the fans’ patience runs low.

He was linked with a move to Arsenal over the summer. He was even rumoured to be subject of a £43 million bid from Arsenal very recently, but that seems like it won’t happen.

In La Liga this season, he featured in the first eight matches, scoring just twice. 9 of his 21 shots have been on target which leaves his shot accuracy at 43%.

All players will go through a poor period of form but, if you’re the main striker at Real Madrid, you need try even harder to get on the score sheet on a regular basis.

Arguably Benzema’s worst moment of the season so far was his miss from a yard out versus Juventus in the Champions League. The ball was played across the penalty area by Alvaro Arbeloa, which evaded Juve goalkeeper Gigi Buffon, and reached Benzema one yard out, right in the centre of the goal but he somehow missed.

He was substituted shortly after by coach Carlo Ancelotti and received a mixed reaction from the Santiago Bernabeu; some fans were happy to applaud their striker while some made sure he knew they were happy to see him taken off.

His figures in the Champions League aren’t as bad as his La Liga ones, though. In three games, he has scored twice. However, both of those goals came in the first match in a 6-1 victory at Galatasaray. His overall shot accuracy is at 50% with two shots (his goals) hitting the target whilst one has hit the crossbar and the other sliced wide.

It would be fair to say his latest game against Juventus was his worst. His figures do not read well.

He took one shot (that miss), won his only tackle, completed 17/21 passes, won now headers, made no interceptions and his only cross was a failed one. In the second half, he only completed six passes.

A quiet evening for the Frenchman which is further proven by his heat map. He barely entered Juventus’ penalty area for the whole evening and spent most of his time drifting close to the centre circle.

Something has changed with Benzema. In the past seasons he’s been buzzing around, scoring superb goals and assisting Cristiano Ronaldo. But so far this season, he seems restricted by something. Real Madrid play in a similar system to the one in which he played well for Jose Mourinho.

To get a proper feel of how his performances have changed this season, you can look at his performance at home in a 5-1 win over Athletic Bilbao early last season.

Benzema scored and won Squawka’s Man of the Match award for his overall display.

Against Bilbao has made 25 out of 35 successful passes but what was most striking was his creativity. He created five chances in the 76 minutes he was on the field – an impressive figure. He also won all seven of his headed duels. That was the real Karim Benzema. What we have seen this season is a knock-off version of the Frenchman.

If Benzema’s form does not improve by January, Ancelotti will be forced into signing a new striker as the French forward is Madrid’s only senior striker since Gonzalo Higuain’s departure. He needs to find his form again or he risks being left on the scrapheap.