Karim Benzema received the Ballon D’Or without his bandage and his finger is not the same as fans spotted.
On Monday night when he accepted the Ballon d’Or, Karim Benzema had a little different appearance because he was missing his recognizable bandage. Why does he wear it, though?
There was no doubt in Paris that Benzema would take home the Golden Ball Award for the previous season’s greatest male player in the world.
Real Madrid won the Champions League for the 13th time thanks to goals from the 34-year-old forward in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and last-16 matches.
Real defeated Liverpool in the championship game in Paris, and as the trophy is now given based on the season rather than the calendar year, Thierry Henry requested that he be recognized the winner.
That did occur, with Kevin de Bruyne finishing third and Sadio Mane placing second, and Benzema accepted the trophy from a beaming Zinedine Zidane.
As he accepted the prize and thanked all of his teammates and those who had assisted him in realizing his “dream,” Benzema looked sharp on stage.
Some fans observed that he was missing the bandages that usually cover his right hand during games and that they weren’t used to seeing him wear.
And the former Lyon player doesn’t just wear the bandage out of habit; it was actually caused by an injury he had in a game against Real Betis in January 2019.
Following the collision with Marc Bartra, he delayed having surgery in order to avoid depriving the squad of his goal-scoring skills. He chose to wait until the end of the season.
After the procedure that summer, Benzema raced back and suffered another hand injury, necessitating surgery once more.
With little time left and especially now that he is back with the France team, he has so far chosen against having another surgery, which would keep him out for months.
In fact, the striker explained why he was doing it in a news conference at the beginning of last season, saying, “I did undergo surgery, but the issue is that you have to be out for two months, and I wanted to be with my teammates.
“I then hurt it again, but now I don’t have time for another surgery so I play with a bandage,” the person said.
The striker scored six goals in four games after he started wearing the bandage, thus it has also had a fortunate charm effect.
He’s been in arguably the finest shape of his life for the past three years, which peaked at the end of last season and during the Ballon d’Or that followed.
Jose Antonio Camacho and Chendo, two former Real Madrid great, both wore bandages while playing at the Bernabeu, but this is unrelated to the reason Benzema does.
It’s safe to say that Benzema’s superpowers into his 30s came from wearing the bandage, making it one of the greatest injuries in football history.
