Cristiano Ronaldo could be the ruling king at Bernabéu, but other players always try to come as closer to him as possible and one name who has paralleled him as far scoring a maximum number of goals for Spanish giant is concerned, is 26-year-old French international Karim Benzema who recently achieved the feat of scoring more than 104 goals for the The Vikings. However, he would still have to accept that he could never been as attacking as his senior has been, in fact, Ronaldo took only 177 games for what Benzema took 215. Sidelining any rivalry with the ace striker, Benzema ruled out any competition to the Portuguese since he considers him his idol like everybody else in the team. He confesses to have been watching his old videos to learn new tricks to better control the ball and how to demoralize opponents by quick flicks within the game. Talking about his valued achievement, he shared his happiness and pleasure in a recent interview where he said, “I am really happy because to reach a player of his size is simply amazing. Ronaldo is, for me, together with Zizou, the best player in history. I feel very proud to have been able to score the same number of goals, and this makes me work even harder now.”
Actually, Ronaldo, who just won the FIFA ballon d’or award, has ever been among the few players in contemporary soccer who are admired even by their rivals. In fact, whenever media raises a question over his form, he silences them in no time with another brilliant show in the field. Talking about how inspirational he has been for his career, ex-Lyon player added, “He inspired me in many things. First, the ease with which he scores goals of course. But I also learned a lot from him about movement in front of the opposition goal. I have followed Ronaldo since I was a boy, and before Madrid games I still watch videos of him playing.”
In today’s football when securing even a place with a big club is difficult, it is certainly a great triumph to equal a player like Ronaldo. Benzema also credits his feat to current assistant coach Zidane, who, according to him, helped him a lot at the Bernabéu, he added, “Zizou is working very well with the whole team, but it is true that he and I have a great understanding in our day-to-day work. Zinedine is like my big brother. He speaks with me a lot, he advises me, and makes me do specific work in front of goal. And it works! For example, before the game against Villarreal, Zidane recommended I move a lot to the near post, and that was how I scored my first goal.”