Fear the ‘Lion’ in Karim Benzema

All hail 'King' Benzema.

Karim Benzema presentation in video

Karim Benzema gave his first press conference as a Madridista after his presentation. Director General Jorge Valdano also answered some questions.

What do you think of Higuain?
I know him because he is my age and he is a good player that scores several gooals. He is young and capable of improving. We can be good team-mates here.

Do you think you can score 25 goals this season?
I make no promises, but I think it’s obvious this team will net many strikes.

What shirt number would you like to have?
I like number 10, but I’ll have to wait for some shirt numbers to be free.

What other teams wanted to sign you? Did you mind being Real Madrid’s second option?
Manchester United, Milan and Barcelona approached me, but I decided to come here. I want to adapt quickly to the team and its atmosphere to earn a spot on the starting line-up as soon as possible.

How has your first day in Madrid been like?
I got a plane at eight in the morning and I’ve been with my brother and my agent all day long having some laughs. I slept for a little, I thought about what was going to happen and I felt welcome when I came out of the dressing room tunnel.

What’s the best moment you’ve had today?
I’ve tried not to think about everything that’s happened and live the moment. I realised I was at Real Madrid after my nap and I though it was wonderful.

What do you know of Manuel Pellegrini?
I know he is a great coach that loves his teams to attack and score many goals. Every player expects his coach to let him perform. That’s my main goal and I hope to achieve it.

Is the fulfillment of your dream of playing for Real Madrid even greater now that you’ve joined the team alongside Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo?
I’ve seen many dreams come true at the same time. What can I say about signing for a club with such players? I will play with two Ballon d’Or winners and I hope to develop my talents with them.

How would you define yourself as a player?
It’s hard to do so in just one sentence. I never give up and I always fight hard.

You say you are shy, but you look rather confident. Did you prepare for this? How was it to say farewell to Olympique?
I feel more comfortable every day. It will naturally take some time because arriving at Real Madrid is a dream of enormous scope. I was very surprised to see so many people at the stadium and that’s why I was a bit shy. I am very happy, but also sad for leaving a club like Olympique.

JORGE VALDANO
The pre-season starts tomorrow. How is the situation with new arrivals and dismissals on the squad coming along?
There have been many new signings already. We’ve got six new players. There have been less dropped players. We hope to have more in the next few days in order for the coach to pretty much have the team he will work with next season.

Benzema is the sixth striker. Is the Club worried about having too many men in attack?
We are working on a plan and we’ve got time to see it through. It  may seem easier to make signings than to drop players from the outset, but the last few days have shown us both things are equally hard to do. There are few news on new signings and that tells us of how difficult the transfer window is right now. We’ve had a strong start by making great signings and we must now face the unpleasant situation of getting rid of players that want to stay. We are working hard on it, but we don’t comment on it.

Would it be a fiasco not to reach the Champions League final next year?
I think it’s too hasty to talk about failure at this stage. Many things happen in one season. It’s not all about winning. We must build a good team that plays well. Not reaching the final is not enough to define a season as being a failure.

What do you expect of the coming season?
This week has been very intense. We are all a bit overwhelmed by what’s happened. We knew our signings had caused great impact, but we didn’t expect so many people to come to the presentations. Many young people came because they have great expectations.

Benzema likes the number ’10’ shirt. What does that mean?
It means he lies the number ’10’ shirt. Karim doesn’t have a number yet because they are all taken. He felt it was disrespectful to wear another team-mate’s number. The Club also thought it would have been unethical to give him the shirt number of a player that is still with us.