Real Madrid and Manchester City meet again in the semi-finals a year after last year’s epic clash. And a lot is at stake. Save a season that never started in La Liga for the meringues, the chance of the first title for the English. And a lot of things are the same too because the two teams are practically the same. With one notable exception. Now, City has Erling Haaland, one of the best strikers in the world who will make an appetizing duel with Karim Benzema, current holder of the Ballon d’Or. But they are players who interpret the position in different ways and who are also at different times in their careers.
Benzema’s is coming to an end. I don’t want to retire anyone, but he’s 35 and has a history of injuries. It is uncertain how long it will remain at a high level. It would be exceptional if he reached 40 in that form, and even that optimistic scenario gives us just five more seasons to enjoy a playmaker who has spent too long hidden in the shadow of a bigger star. And if that made him slow to gain recognition, it also helped him become a well-rounded player.
Benzema arrived at Real Madrid in 2009 and went through three phases: he alternated with Gonzalo Higuaín, he was Cristiano Ronaldo’s squire and later became the owner of the team – and one of the best players in the world. During that second period, he developed his game away from the area, opening space and creating for one of the best finishers in history. He hasn’t failed to score, but many of his highlights, like that move against Atlético Madrid in the 2016/17 European semi-final, have come in the lead-up.
It was a period when Benzema was contested. Not that he never deserved criticism, but sometimes it was hard to notice his importance to the team while Cristiano Ronaldo broke records. During the sequence of four titles in five years, with Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane, Benzema did not have such special numbers. He reached 28 goals in all competitions in one of them and also had seasons with less than 20 – and even one with just 12. quite.
Benzema ended up playing almost whenever he was available and, if he didn’t record fantastic numbers, he was important as a supporting player and, in the last title with Zidane, he scored twice in the semifinal against Bayern Munich and another in the decision against Liverpool. That game in Kiev was the end of a cycle at the Santiago Bernabéu, with the French coach’s first departure and the transfer of Ronaldo. A vacuum opened up in Real Madrid’s technical leadership, and Benzema took advantage of it in an even surprising way.
Even his biggest fans found it hard to predict what he would become. Benzema put the team on their backs in difficult moments. Guaranteed a La Liga title, on Zidane’s return, still in a transitional period. His excellence allowed boys like Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo to develop more peacefully. When they were more ready, Benzema was decisive like few others in the history of a Champions League knockout match towards the 14th conquest and, deservedly, was named the best player in the world by France Football magazine.
The difference, after Ronaldo left, is that he gained freedom to combine the best of both worlds: a lethal finisher, more efficient and frequent than before, but still a first-rate waiter. It’s common to see Benzema with the ball controlled at both corners of the penalty area or close to the semi-circle, working on the move, waiting for the time to pass. That other aspect of his game made more of an impact in La Liga. In the four previous seasons, in addition to scoring more than 20 goals, he was always close to 10 assists (6, 8, 9 and 12). The complete package raised him to the next level in football history when, in fact, he ended his career.
The comparison is interesting because Haaland is still starting. You have time to improve your game. If he will probably never be a center forward who leaves the area and builds for others as well as Benzema, the better he manages to develop this characteristic, the more lethal he will be. His Manchester City signing has always seemed like the perfect match: one of the most accurate finishers on the world’s best goal-creating team. The only question was how he would be integrated into the collective game of Pep Guardiola, famous for using strikers who need to do more than just hit the ball into the net.
Like Harry Kane, for example. With both England and Tottenham, Kane loves to step into the number 10 role during periods of play. He was the first choice to replace Sergio Agüero, but the Spurs played tough. Instead of looking for a plan B, City faced last season with frequently giving up a center forward. There was still Gabriel Jesus, who had played more tactical roles for some time and, in most games, the position was occupied by an attacking midfielder, such as Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden or Kevin de Bruyne.
Hiring Haaland changed everything, but it also created a dilemma. Part of City’s excellence in playmaking lay in their numerical superiority in their glut of midfielders. What would happen when one of them gave space to a center forward who likes transitions more, always on the edge of impediment, and stays more fixed within the area? There were times in the first half of the season when Haaland and the rest of the squad seemed like separate entities. Everyone seemed to be struggling with muscle memory: when the ball was recovered, Haaland was looking for the transition, rather than approaching the midfielders, and the midfielders were torn between throwing him into space or doing what they always did and exchanging passes until everyone is positioned.
Not by chance, they were the months of greatest instability for Manchester City. What was normal: Haaland is a young player who was adapting to a new country, a new league and a new style of play. Nor was it by chance that, as he became more integrated, playing more on the ball, helping with construction, City took off. He has eight assists in all competitions, his highest tally since joining Dortmund. It’s still not what it was before, maybe it never will be, and it doesn’t have to be. The Norwegian’s finishing ability is so exceptional that it makes up for what the team could lose in creation. Throughout this process, it is important to remember, Haaland scored enough goals to break the record for the highest scorer in a single edition of the modern era of the Premier League.
Guardiola introduced a center forward to face Real Madrid last season. But Jesus doesn’t have the same characteristics as Haaland and, frankly, he’s not even as good. You can’t say it went wrong because the confrontation was decided in detail, in a turnaround that would be unique if it hadn’t happened other times in that campaign for the meringues. In a knockout match, Haaland also provides a way out if nothing else is working. A striker who wins from the top, fights with the defenders and, if necessary, tries to open spaces with force. Maybe that was the main factor for hiring him and we’ll see the rest later. Because it could be the difference for City to overcome this barrier, reach the final once again and maybe finally become champions.
2023-05-09 13:12:00
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