Karim Benzema picked his all-time XI and "forgot" Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

Karim Benzema is one of the best players of this century. Since his beginnings at Olympique Lyonnais, he showed a lot of talent and ability to score goals. This allowed him to reach Real Madrid, where he formed an unforgettable attacking trio with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. They competed with three other top players, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar Junior, who were at Barcelona at the same time.

Over the years the French striker became increasingly important for Los Merengues, especially after the departure of CR7. In fact, in 2022 he led the team to the Champíons League title and his performances made him the best player in the world that year, when he won the Ballon d'Or award.

He is now at Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia, enjoying the final years of his professional career while earning a multi-million dollar salary. In an interview with the club's official channel, he was asked to choose his ideal lineup of all time and shocked everyone with his answer.

Benzema did not include historical stars such as Diego Maradona, Pele, Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer, but preferred players from the last decades, mostly players that he faced during his career or were his teammates at Real Madrid or France. But even there he also made unexpected choices: he "forgot" Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, surely the two best players of this century.

What was Karim's team?

The goalkeeper is Manuel Neuer. The center-backs are Pepe and Sergio Ramos, both his Real Madrid teammates, as well as Marcelo as left-back. The right-back is Dani Alves. The two midfielders are French, Claude Makelele and Paul Pogba. A little further forward are Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldinho, and finally the strikers are Brazilian Ronaldo and himself. Yes, Karim Benzema chose himself over Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.