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Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has heaped praise on Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema following his tie-winning hat-trick against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Real Madrid needed to beat PSG in the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie on Wednesday night. Trailing 1-0 from the first-leg, Los Blancos were in search of a quick goal to ease their nerves.
Unfortunately for the hosts, things didn’t go as planned as they ended up conceding a goal just before half-time through PSG's first-leg hero Kylian Mbappe.
Just past the hour mark, Los Merengues skipper Karim Benzema took matters into his own hands and completed a blistering 17-minute hat-trick. His treble helped Real Madrid to a 3-1 win on the night (3-2 on aggregate), securing their passage to the Champions League quarter-finals.
Wenger was thoroughly impressed by the 34-year-old’s performance and called his compatriot a “complete football player” with “supreme intelligence.” Speaking on BeIN Sport (via Mirror), the Frenchman said:
“For me he is the complete football player - he has absolutely everything. What I like about Benzema is that he's a team player and everything he does looks simple. You always think you could do what he does - that is a supreme intelligence.”
Wenger remarked that the Madrid forward had found a “new dimension” in his game since Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure to Juventus in the summer of 2018.
The 72-year-old feels the France international has got better every passing year, adding:
“He has taken a new dimension since Ronaldo left. He took more responsibility and he grew. I must say I admire the year 1987 - Benzema is 87, so is Suarez, Messi and Cavani. Benzema looks like he's getting better every year. I'm a big admirer of his game.”
Wednesday's scintillating Champions League hat-trick against PSG took Benzema’s Real Madrid goal tally to 309. Surpassing club legend Alfredo Di Stefano (308), the Frenchman is Los Blancos’ third leading goalscorer in history.
Former teammates Cristiano Ronaldo (451) and Raul (323) are the only two players in front of the France international.
Tie win against PSG marks the first time Real Madrid have overcome first-leg deficit since 2015-16
Last night’s win was a historic one for the men in white. Not only did it make Karim Benzema the third-highest goalscorer in the club’s history, but it also marked the first time they have overturned a first-leg deficit in the Champions League since the 2015-16 season.
Los Merengues were then handed a 2-0 defeat in the first leg of their quarter-final clash against Wolfsburg. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a stunning hat-trick in the return leg to secure a 3-2 aggregate win for Madrid.
Los Blancos famously went on to win the Champions League in the 2015-16 season, handing then-manager Zinedine Zidane his first major managerial success.
