Benzema after winning Ballon d’Or: "It was childhood dream"

said that getting the Ballon d'Or for the first time on Monday made a childhood dream come true. The captain of

was named the best player in the world at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. This was a reward for his great season in 2021-22.

Last season, Madrid won both the LaLiga and the Champions League. Carlo Ancelotti was the coach, and Benzema scored 44 goals in 46 games. The France striker, who will be 35 in December, won the Ballon d'Or at the age of 34, making him the oldest winner since the great Stanley Matthews in 1956.

On a special night in his home country,

Zinedine Zidane

, who used to coach Benzema at Real Madrid and was the last French player to win the award in 1998, gave it to him.

He said, 

"Seeing this award in front of me makes me really proud of the work I have done. It was childhood dream, to have the motivation... I had two role models, Zidane and Ronaldo [the Brazil legend], and always I had this dream in my mind that anything is possible."

"There was a difficult period where I wasn't in the French team, but I never stopped working hard or gave up. Really proud of my journey here. It wasn't easy, it was difficult. To be here today for the first time, I am happy, pleased for my work and want to keep going.

"I want to thank all my team-mates at Real Madrid and France and my coach and the Real Madrid president, who is here this evening, and also the support of

Jean-Michel Aulas

[Lyon president]. There are a lot of people to thank. It is an individual prize but still a collective one because of everyone who played a role in it."

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