Earlier this week, Brazilian legend Ronaldo -- the Ronaldo, to anyone born before 1990 -- said what a lot of people are thinking: "Karim Benzema? He deserves the Ballon d'Or. I've been saying it for years and they've criticized me, but he deserves it. He's a great striker."
Now, R9 might be a little biased on Benzema. In the same interview, he called his former club, Real Madrid, the "favorites" to win the Champions League -- despite both Liverpool and Manchester City harboring significantly shorter odds at all sports books. But he's also not wrong.
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Anyone can see why, really. There was the hat trick against Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of the round of 16 in the Champions League. Then there was the hat trick in the first leg against Chelsea in the quarterfinals. Then there was the winning goal in the second leg against Chelsea. All in all, Benzema has scored 38 goals in 38 games this season -- a career high with a month still to play. Ten more goals than anyone in Spain, an additional 12 in the Champions League, a goal a game, a good chunk of which came at decisive high-leverage moments: What more could you want?
Well, that's the thing about Benzema's season; there's lots more. While his goal scoring alone makes him a worthy candidate for the Ballon d'Or, what really makes him the best player in Europe this season is everything else he does.