It was a Spanish sweep at the Ballon D’or awards ceremony this week. Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema was awarded the Men’s honour, while Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas captured the women’s honour for the second consecutive year.
Benzema, 34, helped propel Real Madrid to a Champions League and La Liga double, while notching a career best 27 goals last season. The French born striker managed to record hat tricks vs. PSG and Chelsea in what was arguably the most effective year of his career thus far.
Real Madrid’s 2nd highest goal scorer edged out Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane and Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne for the title, marking the first Ballon D’or of his career.
“I’m really proud seeing this prize, it’s been my dream since I was a kid. I grew up with this in my head, and after that I had the motivation,” Benzema said.
“It’s been difficult for me. There was a time when I wasn’t playing for the national team, but I didn’t give up. It’s been difficult for me and that just makes me stronger mentally. I’m really happy with my work.”
Fellow Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, Benzema’s boyhood role model, was on hand to present him with the trophy. Prior to his win this year, Zidane was the most recent French player to capture the award back in 1998.
Meanwhile on the women’s side of things, midfielder Alexia Putellas took home her 2nd consecutive Ballon D’or trophy following another standout season with Barcelona.
With her win, Putellas becomes the first woman to win the award twice since its inception in 2018.
The Spanish national team member enjoyed a career year in 2021-22 scoring 42 goals and recording 22 assists across all competitions. Putellas and her Barcelona teammates captured the Spanish league title last year, and reached the Champions League final before falling to eventual champion Lyon.
The 28 year old is currently rehabbing her injured left knee after undergoing surgery back in July.
“When I got injured I didn’t think I’d be here today, but it makes me proud to get recompense for all that hard work,” she said. “I miss playing so much and doing what I like to do the most.”
The native of Mollet del Valles, Spain has the 2nd most appearances for Barcelona behind former left back Melanie Serrano, and is the club’s 2nd highest goal scorer all time.
Completing Spain’s dominance at the award ceremony, Barcelona midfielder Gavi took home the Kopa Trophy for the best under-21 aged player, while Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois took home the prize for best goalkeeper.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Photo: Real Madrid. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.