As all of the Real Madrid players have resumed training at Valdebebas, Karim Benzema remains the only one missing from the team. Although the Frenchman isn't expected to arrive until July 19, it does not mean he will not return in time for Real Madrid's tour of the United States. Los Blancos will play the Las Vegas Clasico, which is part of the Soccer Champions Tour tournament, three days after his arrival so he will have time needed to catch his teammates, get ready and fly to USA with them.
Nevertheless, Benzema is already hard at work training while on holiday, though Carlo Ancelotti wants him to rest as much as possible after a season that has made him one of the favourites to take home the Ballon d'Or. With Luka Jovic gone, and Mariano the only striker available behind Benzema, Ancelotti knows he can't afford to see his star man not at the top and lacking energy, which is why he wants him to return with his batteries fully charged.
The Italian is also keeping an eye on the future because Benzema, like the rest of Madrid's international players, will leave for the World Cup in Qatar in November. That means the players will have to spend some extra energy in the middle of 2022-2023 season to complete the World Cup with their national teams. With that in mind, it is more than necessary for the players to have a good rest now and maybe have that rest in a better way which will make them more likely to resist a long and tiring season like the one that’s coming.
Real Madrid will face Club America on July 26 (early morning of July 27 in Spain) in San Francisco, with the third and final match of the American tour taking place against Juventus on July 30 (early July 31 in Spain). After that, Real Madrid will return to Spain to prepare for the European Super Cup against Eintracht Frankfurt on August 10.
The new Real Madrid captain is coming into what will be his 14th season at the club. In each of those campaigns he has been the untouchable striker for all the coaches who have passed through Madrid. In those 14 years at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Benzema has seen how the centre-forward position has rotated among the greats of Europe.
Pending the future of Robert Lewandowski, who has made it clear he wants to leave Bayern Munich, they have had the most stability in the centre-forward position since Benzema arrived in Madrid. Besides Bayern, Paris Saint-Germain, in particular, have invested in centre forwards, without making the move they had hoped for by bringing in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani and Mauro Icardi.
On the other side is Atletico Madrid. While Benzema has built his history in white, the other side of the capital has had plenty of forwards. When Real Madrid introduced Benzema, Atleti's No9 was Diego Forlan, hero that season with two goals against Fulham in the Europa League final. Then came Falcao, Diego Costa with David Villa at his side, Mario Mandzukic, Fernando Torres returned, Kevin Gameiro, Angel Correa played as a striker, Alvaro Morata, Suarez, Matheus Cunha...
While enjoying his time off, he was subject of a funny situation regarding his privacy. Social media users and the press never let these moments go unnoticed! The Frenchman posted a picture on his Instagram account, in which he appears sleeping inside a private plane, but the comments were mostly sarcastic. What’s the reason?
Followers noticed the appearance of a woman’s toe in the published photo. It seems that benzema did not pay attention at first to this, but the comments made him urgently delete the photo and republish it after cutting it. Even after it was corrected, sarcastic comments remained present in the new image.
Considering all they had to go on was a toe, this would’ve normally been a closed case, but when Footy fans are involved, nothing is simple. The “Social Media FBI” was already on it, scouring through profiles online to find a match, and eventually, they struck gold. The search was narrowed down to Jordan Ozuna, an American model with a massive following on Instagram.
They arrived at the conclusion through, quite literally, a toenail match, as a picture posted by the 32-year-old was used for reference. Ozuna is currently making a name for herself in the modelling world and works with agencies such as State Management, Caroline Gleason Management, Tricia Brink Management and The Salt Agency. Other pictures clicked by the paparazzi appear to have confirmed the links, despite Benzema’s best efforts, the relationship is out in the open.
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