Karim is Such a Dream

By: Inara | December 13th, 2007

Boy oh boy, is Karim Benzema on fire or what?

Scoring left and right, assisting right and left, all the while managing to stay centered and grounded. His goal tally for Lyon is up to 18 (in all competitions), he’s scored another two for France, and he’s also notched numerous assists. Beyond the statistics, his overall game play – technique, strength, poise, speed, etc – have drawn admiration from all over Europe.

Lyon have already declared that Benzema, a product of their youth academy, isn’t going anywhere until Lyon win the Champions League. However, that hasn’t stopped the interest, and now everyone’s asking him: “How much, when, and where?” Word on the street is that Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Inter are prepared to offer €30m for Benzema (which is only half of Aulas’s initial €60m asking price). Overpriced? Not at all when you consider that Lyon don’t want or need to sell.

Psst. Karim. Don’t trust guys who try to pick you up on a street corner.

Fortunately, Benzema is taking my advice (or more likely, he got Laurie’s Christmas gift with a healthy dose of Raymond Domench’s wisdom), because this morning on RTL, Benzema reaffirmed his desire to stay at Lyon.

“I have a contract with Lyon until 2012, and I’ve always told the president I will stay with the club at least until we win the Champions League…There are still a lot of things I want to achieve at Lyon. Afterwards, we’ll see.”

I’m sure there are those ~~jealous~~ cynical people out there who will undoubtedly say that Benzema is just being political. And there are those ~~jealous~~ skeptical people out there who think that Aulas would sell his own mother for extra cash.

But whatever. Benzema is ours. For him, wearing the shirt is not about a paycheck or about whoring himself to bigger clubs. We know he’s being truthful because he’s shown us over and over again just how much he loves his club. How proud he is to be Lyonnais. How confident he is of OL’s qualities.

Even as a 17 year old he impressed.

Unlike the older and more experienced Lyon players, who had given up on the Champions League after the loss to Rangers, Benzema had never doubted that Lyon would prevail. From the outset he had announced that the UEFA Cup wasn’t good enough, and by golly, he’d do everything in his power to make sure Lyon got the rewards they deserved.

So it was with a great deal with youthful glee – and perhaps with a touch of irony directed at Alain Perrin and Juninho - when in last night’s post-match interview, he said:

“It doesn’t matter who we get in the last 16 – we are there and we are a great team. Lyon are frightening teams again, and we have a squad that can do something major in this Champions League. Against Rangers, everyone saw that Lyon are one of the best in Europe…I am delighted because we gained our revenge for our calamitous start to the Champions League. We have demonstrated that we are still there, that in difficult moments great teams always come through.”

And when Benzema says it like that…well, he’s made a believer out of me!