La Liga
José Mourinho unleashes his kitten of war: Karim Benzema
Until recently, Real Madrid's French forward has been little more than a purring political pawn. Not any more
Karim Benzema celebrates his goal in the Madrid derby. Photograph: Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty Images José Mourinho pulled on his wax jacket, slung the shotgun over his shoulder, reached for the cartridges and, looking down, stopped dead in his tracks. Disgusted. What, he spat, is
that? At his feet should have stood a loyal and disciplined pack of bloodthirsty foxhounds, wagging their tales with murderous excitement. Instead, there was a quiet, docile kitten, sleepily licking itself clean and occasionally coughing up a fur ball. The hunter looked at the kitten, looked at his gun, and looked back at the kitten. Exasperated, he asked: how the hell am I supposed to hunt with that? The answer turned out to be surprisingly simple: quite well, actually.
It was mid-December and it had just been confirmed that Gonzalo Higuaín would have to go under the knife because of a slipped disc; four months' convalescence awaited him. Mourinho's dark prophecy had come to pass. They can't say he didn't warn them: in the summer, he had demanded another striker only for
Real Madrid to say no; OK, he said, begrudgingly "but if Higuaín or Benzema gets injured we'll have to pray." It was time to call upon a superior being - and not just that one. Now, Higuaín
was injured. If two strikers were not enough, one was plain reckless. The club pointed at Ronaldo and pointed at Kaká, but Mourinho did not desist. Real Madrid could not compete for three trophies with one striker.
And yet this question was not just quantitative, it was qualitative too. One striker was bad enough; one striker like Karim Benzema was worse. Cold, quiet, insular, apparently laid back, apparently uncommitted, ambling absent-mindedly around the pitch, the Frenchman was not to Mourinho's liking. Mourinho had complained that training could not start at 10am because Benzema was "still asleep" and pointedly remarked that the Frenchman "could learn a lot sitting on the bench". Even Kaká weighed in: "We have the feeling," he said, "that Karim could do rather more." When Mourinho was asked about the Brazilian's comments, he simply agreed. "Kaká was only saying what we all think."
Mourinho was just not convinced. He wanted a tireless worker, a dog of war. A target. A Didier Drogba, a Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Diego Milito. A Hugo Almeida, a Ruud van Nistelrooy. Or, as it turned out, an Emmanuel Adebayor. Just not a Benzema. That was not Benzema's game, but it felt like it needed to be: there was something in the way he moved that didn't move them.
Mourinho then said it: a Portuguese version of horses for courses or beggars can't be choosers with a tactical undertone, another criticism of Benzema.
"If I can't hunt with a dog, I will hunt with a cat," he said. "With a dog you hunt more and you hunt better. But if you have not got a dog and you have got a cat, you hunt with a cat."
Thing is, Mourinho did not want to hunt with a cat. "I know that making him play is the best thing I can do for Benzema; but is it the best thing for the team?" he asked. Another time, he moaned: "Karim's playing because I have got nothing else." Against Almería, Benzema didn't even play. He was left out of the starting XI, with Mourinho preferring to play Cristiano Ronaldo up front. "I have not got a striker," Mourinho said. "Yes you have," replied Jorge Valdano the club's director general after a costly draw, "he was sitting on the bench."
That decision had been political. Mourinho exaggerated his distrust in Benzema to force Madrid's hand. And yet there was also a reality and you could understand it. Not only was Benzema not Mourinho's kind of striker, he had scored just one league goal. When he had played, he had largely been unable to take advantage. It was not just his performance that worried people and angered Mourinho: it was his personality. Many made up their minds: he just didn't care. It was unfair, but it was unavoidable. The best advice you could give Benzema was to lie – run for a lost cause, chase a ball you know you're not going to get, launch yourself into a crunching challenge. Just for the sake of it; just to show you do care. Never mind that it's not you, just do it.
Signed as the superstar, by presidential prerogative, Benzema cost €35m (£30m) from Lyon but, despite an often-vicious campaign against Higuaín, his competitor for a starting place, he made little impact in his first season. They argued but there could be no argument. Higuaín got 27 in 32 league games; Benzema got eight. And eight virtually irrelevant goals: two against relegated Tenerife, the fourth in a 5-0 win over relegated Xérez, the sixth in a 6-0 win over Zaragoza, the fourth in a 5-1 win over Athletic. He had performed well in Valencia, but largely they were unimpressed. Only once did he get the first (against Tenerife) and only the two against Deportivo stood out – and even they were overshadowed by the
"heel of God".
Up in the boardroom, they were desperate for Benzema to succeed – indeed, that was one of the reasons they resisted Mourinho's calls for another striker. Florentino Pérez had personally travelled to Benzema's house to persuade him to sign. There was pressure too. Upon Pérez's return, three galácticos signed: Kaká had failed, Benzema was failing and Ronaldo's transfer had been secured
by the previous president. This season was proving no better.
Benzema's brief revival was a false dawn and by Christmas his only goal was an irrelevant 88th minute third in a 3-0 win against Espanyol from September. Even the praetorian guards doubted. Marca gave up. Benzeman became Benzená, ná being short for nada. Nowt. One cover even declared him "dead".
Mourinho kept insisting on the need for a striker. His kind of striker. In the end, terrified by the time bomb ticking away in their hands, Madrid relented. Adebayor joined on loan from Manchester City. It looked like the end for Benzema; instead, it was the beginning. Adebayor arrived and it happened: Benzema started scoring goals.
It was just 10 minutes into the Madrid derby on Saturday night when Benzema dashed on to a Sami Khedira pass and gave Real Madrid the lead with a neat flick from the outside of his foot. Big deal, you might say. After all, it's only the Atlético defence and it's only the derby – and, let's face it, we all know what happens in the derby. Atlético have not won a derby for 12 years and they have been a goal down within 15 minutes in seven of the last eight at the Vicente Calderón. Big deal, you might say, because while Benzema got the goal, it was Iker Casillas who saved them and Mesut Ozil – superb this season – who got the vital second in a 2-1 win. Big deal, you might say, because the game's truly outstanding player was Sergio Agüero.
And you'd be right. You'd be right too if you said that hunting Atlético is not exactly hunting big game; sadly, these days, you'll never see a stuffed
Atléti head above Madrid's mantelpiece – they have bigger targets. But this was a big deal. It was a big deal because it was the fourth consecutive league game in which Benzema has scored. Because it was the 12th he has scored in 2011 – as many as Ronaldo and second only to Leo Messi. Because he has got nine league goals since the turn of the year and has now scored in four consecutive Champions League games too – a feat that no one else has achieved in the club's history. Because he has now scored 21 goals so far this season. And because it's not just the fact that he is scoring goals; it is
which goals he is scoring. Not so much the first against Atlético on Saturday night but a brilliant individual goal away against Sevilla which virtually secured a Copa del Rey final place and a brilliant goal against Lyon, the first Madrid had ever scored at Stade Gerland – just 40 seconds after coming on as a sub.
When Benzema scored that goal, Pérez, normally so reserved, leapt up in the directors' box and punched the air. It was the first time anyone can remember him reacting to a goal – and it spoke volumes about his desire to see Benzema succeed, about the pressure that built.
Adebayor started ahead of Benzema in Lyon but far from burying him, the arrival of the Manchester City striker has been good for Benzema. Not only did it allow him greater freedom of movement, enabling him to come in from the left or drop off the front - Opta stats show that more than half of Benzema's plays now start on the left and that he is playing a little deeper, that Madrid's moves are more elaborated and a little less direct – but it also removed the political pressure from him. It meant he was no longer a pawn in someone else's game, liable to be left out as leverage, liable to have his performances analysed over and over and used as ammunition. Having got what he wanted – and there is little doubt that Madrid did need another striker in the squad – Mourinho can now simply pick his team.
"He even comes back to defend corners now," Mourinho smiled. The kitten that padded and purred in opponents' laps, now swipes at their face with the paw of a bear. Except that in truth there has been no huge change in Benzema's game. What there has been is continuity, certainty. That has brought confidence and commitment. Not so much because Mourinho has developed it - Mourinho's cheerleaders are crediting him with a success that is not really his – but because playing has. Higuaín's injury and Adebayor's arrival has brought tranquillity and minutes. And with every goal, it is harder to leave him out; with every goal, he grows. "I'm not," said Benzema, "a cat any more. Now, I'm a lion." And big cats
can hunt. Better even than dogs.
Week 29 talking points
• Barcelona won. Next. Ok, ok, Barcelona won and weren't very impressive. Barcelona won and continue to waste chances. Barcelona won and Leo Messi did
not score. And Barcelona won thanks to a goal from Bojan and a proper belter from Dani Alves.
• The only coach to mastermind a victory at the Camp Nou has been sacked. Hércules parted company with Esteban Vigo on Sunday night, blaming him for the side's position at the bottom of the table. And not the fact that players have gone unpaid, that they have been training in public parks or that they have been changing in a pre-fab building. Or the fact that, let's face it, they should probably never have come up in the first place. Apologies to Hércules fans but if they get relegated, few neutrals are going to be sorry to see them go.
• Valencia-Sevilla only had one goal. But how?
• And so Levante are now the third best side in Spain in the second half of the season and are all the way up to 10th. They were doomed not long ago. Brilliant, just brilliant. Luis García's all-singing, all-dancing, all-falling-off-walls team of mightily motivated men have now won six and drawn two of their last nine. Their only defeat was at the Bernabéu against Real Madrid.
* Almería's matchday delegate was sent off by the referee Turienzo Álvarez as they were defeated 1-0 by Sporting Gijón at the Molinón. The game was a seven-pointer: two relegation teams up against each other with three points each plus the head-to-head goal difference in play. The matchday delegate's heinous crime, according to the referee's official report was to "shout at the fourth official: 'can't you see that he played that with his hand?'." Which he did. And which he couldn't.
• Speaking of referees' reports. Some Atlético Madrid fans chanted: "Marcelo you're a monkey." No, he's not. But
you are a bunch of ignorant morons. It was not all of them by any means but it was quite loud and it was quite clear. Except to referee Teixeira Vitienes I (yes, there is a Teixeira Vitienes II), who didn't hear it. Or didn't care. As for the other type of match report: it was a Madrid derby, people. Ctrl C, Ctrl V.
Results
Mallorca 1-0 Zaragoza; Barcelona 2-1 Getafe; Atlético 1-2 Real Madrid; Sporting 1-0 Almería; Hércules 0-4 Osasuna; Racing 2-1 Real Sociedad; Málaga 2-0 Espanyol; Deportivo 0-1 Levante; Athletic 0-1 Villarreal; Valencia 0-1 Sevilla
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