Karim Benzema is a famous French footballer who now plays in Real Madrid as a striker. What is interesting about his biography and the personal life of an athlete?
Football player biography
The future famous football player was born on December 19, 1987 in the French city of Lyon. The boy's parents were refugees from Algeria. Their family had nine children. There was a constant lack of money, so the only way to get out into people was to play sports.
Benzema chose football since childhood. He enthusiastically played it all day long and attended the football section of the local Bron Terralion club. It was there that the scouts of the Lyon football academy noticed him and invited a gifted young man to their place. Karim performed very successfully on the football field, but his studies were given to him with great difficulty.
Nevertheless, at the age of 17, the young footballer was transferred to the second team of Lyon, where he immediately became the number one star. This could not pass by the head coach of the team, and the next season Benzema begins at the base of Lyon. He instantly achieves success in the best club in the country. In the first eleven matches, Karim scores 11 goals. He is immediately called up to the French national team. And many European clubs are beginning to hunt for a promising striker.
But Benzema is in no hurry to leave Lyon and won four times in the French championship. He especially succeeds in the 2007/2008 season, when the footballer becomes the best goalscorer in the championship.
In 2009, Real Madrid laid out 35 million euros for the player. Karim still plays for this team. His contract is valid until 2021, and the amount of compensation prescribed in it is about 1 billion euros.
Over the years, as part of the Royal Club, Benzema has almost always been the main forward and managed to become the champion of Spain twice, win the Champions League four times and win several cup tournaments. He was named the best football player in France three times.
For the national team of his country, Karim played about 80 matches. He has participated in several major tournaments, including the World Championships in South Africa and Brazil. But he did not achieve much success with the team.
In 2015, Benzema became the culprit in the blackmail scandal of Mathieu Valbuena. For this, he was prosecuted, and was also suspended from participation in the matches for the French national team. Therefore, he did not succeed in becoming the world champion in 2018. However, in 2017, all charges were dropped.
Now Karim successfully plays for Real Madrid and managed to distinguish himself several times in the first matches of the new season. After the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo from the team, it is Benzema who is the main striking force of the team.
The personal life of a football player
There were always a lot of rumors around his relationship with the opposite sex. Karim has been credited with having affairs with many models and other celebrities. So he had a relationship with singer Rihanna, model Analicia Chavez and so on. In 2015, Benzema married Kore Gauthier, who bore him a child, a boy, Ibrahim. His wife is also a famous model. The family is now very happy and lives together in an elite area of Madrid.
Karim also has an illegitimate daughter, Melia, from one of his old friends.
