Madrid, September 25 (BUS): Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti backed striker Karim Benzema to win the Ballon d’Or, comparing the Frenchman to a wine that improves with age.
The award, which has been dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years, is an open competition as it has always been as the duo’s age and Benzema’s level in 2021, which led to calls from local media for a bell, Reuters reports.
The 33-year-old French striker started the season with fire, scoring eight goals and seven assists as Real Madrid fired at the top of La Liga.
He will be looking to increase that number and keep his squad high when they visit the Villarreal Bernabeu on Saturday. Real Madrid leads by two points from Atletico Madrid after six matches.
“Because of what he’s doing and what he’s done, he should be on the list of potential winners,” Ancelotti said of Benzema.
“Saying that, Karim has time to win it. I somehow doubt this is his last season – it’s like a fine wine; the older the better.”
The Italian coach added that with such a busy schedule – Real Madrid host the Champions League on Tuesday – he will change his squad.
“The players who have not played will have the opportunity to play in the next matches because they are fresher,” he said.
“You can’t train as hard because you play a game every three days. We do a lot of video analysis of what we’ve done well and what we need to improve.”
Ancelotti will be absent from six first-team players in the visit of coach Unai Emery’s team, who also made the start of the season unbeaten, although he won only one of his five matches while drawing in the other four.