The end of Benzema at Real Madrid It has been dotted with a series of intrigues that have occurred during this express denouement that has ended with the Frenchman outside the Bernabéu starring in one of the most unexpected frights in the history of the white club.
lightning operation
At the outset, it must be pointed out that the operation precipitated vertiginously last week. At the beginning of it, an emissary from Saudi Arabia contacted the Frenchman to finalize the offer: 200 million ‘clean’ in two years and another optional season. An offer after which some saw a way to alleviate Messi’s hypothetical refusal to the Saudis since Leo would be trying to return to Barça and fulfill his family’s wish.
Once the offer was received, Karim reported it to Florentino Perez, whom he asked for a few days to think about it. The president told him that the doors of Madrid were open, despite the agreement they had to extend his contract for another year, in gratitude for his services during these 14 seasons as a white player. But He warned him that Madrid, involved in the remodeling of the Bernabéu, would help him to extend his departure to Arabia for a year, as far as possible. That was the conversation.
Karim took the days of reflection and faced training without confirming or denying his departure. Until Benzema went to the newspaper Marca to receive an award of the media and had to pronounce on his future. There she left a headline as enigmatic as it was ambiguous: “Reality is not the Internet.” In clear allusion to the information that took her march for granted on the networks. Hours later, the Madrid newspaper announced with great fanfare: ‘Benzema is staying’. A version that contradicted all the information that came from his environment and from Arabia, where the arrival of the French was taken for granted.
Silence and half truths
Benzema kept the mystery to the point that neither the club nor the entertainment stands had confirmation of his departure with enough time to prepare a tifo or a goodbye at the height of his sporting dimension as the current captain of the team, the second highest scorer in history and the last Ballon d’Or for Real Madrid.
Carlo Ancelottialways discreet and elegant, never asked the striker about his future. But he did make his position on the matter clear in the press conference prior to the match against Athletic: “The legends of the club have to retire at Real Madrid.” Statement that fed the hypothesis of his permanence in Madrid, as Karim himself had slipped in Marca to his journalists.
But the thing went further. Asked in the white locker room by some footballers in the hours before the duel against the Lions, Benzema himself confirmed that he was staying. Even knowing that he was lying to his companions because the decision had been made and it was the last time he would wear the Madrid shirt.
When the French striker called Florentino to inform him of his decision, the president elegantly thanked him for his work over the years and wished him luck. And shortly after, Madrid made public the departure of a Benzema who has not made any appearance in the media either before or after officially announcing his goodbye.
Tribute without the press
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The final climax to these entanglements and half-truths will be staged this Tuesday with the ‘clandestine’ tribute that the club will pay him this Tuesday at 12:00 in Valdebebas. An act that inexplicably the press is not invited and it can only be followed by the club’s official media, which greatly reduces the significance of the act.
Why is it not done with the witness press? For many it is a punishment from Real Madrid to Benzema for this frightening lightning and for his behavior these days telling the truth about his teammates and not being clear from the beginning, neither with the club nor with the dressing room nor with the media. Karim Benzema is leaving, a striker as majestic on the pitch as he is dark off it.