Alarm in Madrid due to Benzema's knee problems

French striker Karim Benzema retired half an hour after Real Madrid's Champions League debut at Celtic Park, after suffering severe pain in his right knee that prevented him from continuing in the game and forced him to leave his place Belgian Eden Hazard, who scored the last goal of the match in Glasgow.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
06 September 2022 Tuesday 17:30
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Alarm in Madrid due to Benzema's knee problems

French striker Karim Benzema retired half an hour after Real Madrid's Champions League debut at Celtic Park, after suffering severe pain in his right knee that prevented him from continuing in the game and forced him to leave his place Belgian Eden Hazard, who scored the last goal of the match in Glasgow.

With Real Madrid struggling in the first half hour of the Celtic home game, the worst news Carlo Ancelotti could receive came from Benzema. In one action, he complained about his right knee, tested for minutes with bad sensations and had to be replaced. The white team took the game forward with a resounding victory (0-3) despite the absence of their star.

What will happen if Karim Benzema is injured?" was one of the big questions that Real Madrid debated during the long transfer period. A hypothesis that lurked around Real Madrid's attack, but to which nobody wanted to pay too much attention, due to the healthy history of the French and by a certain austerity that has characterized the last markets of the Chamartín club.

Until the dreaded moment arrived. A September 6, with the season still in its infancy. 20 minutes into the match against Celtic, Benzema twisted his face. While Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé increased their figures in Seville and Paris, Karim left. He noticed some discomfort and a few distressing seconds passed for Real Madrid, who glued to the television hoped that everything would be a scare.

But Benzema said no. Between clear gestures of pain he left the field, pointing to the right knee. A few brief words with Carlo Ancelotti raised the level of concern. The game, while Eden Hazard was preparing to leave, was isolated in the background. The big question was not what would happen at Celtic Park; It was what Madrid would do without its banner, without the man who took the chestnuts out of the fire for the whites throughout last season.

Already the fact that his replacement was a man like Hazard, who despite his good minutes is not used to that position, evidenced the problem of Ancelotti's squad, which does not have a replacement of guarantees with which to make up for the Frenchman's loss . Mariano has never proven to be a player for Madrid and Luka Jovic, the man who due to characteristics should be the team's second striker, left through the back door to Fiorentina.

For having the quota of non-EU citizens filled -until Vinícius was nationalized this week-, for considering other positions a priority and for having the fittest 'nine' in the world, Benzema remained the only option and his injury opens up unknowns that, for now, in Glasgow they covered up the usual ones.

Vinícius, getting better and better in the definition, despite a bad one-on-one with Joe Hart in the first half, and Luka Modric, with his umpteenth detail with the outside, took from the head of Real Madrid the worst news of a night in the that Hazard also had a quota, who had not scored since January.

An injury from whose medical tests the result of Real Madrid's mid-season can come out. An injury made up by the Whites' 0-2 loss to Celtic, but one that will be really tested in games of greater importance. In the retina of many, the 0-4 conceded against Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu last season, the great game that Benzema missed.

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