Due to his rampant goalscoring, Karim Benzema has firmly established himself as one of the best footballers in the world at the moment.
His consistency is remarkable, and the Frenchman is a dependable figure from the penalty spot as well.
Benzema has slotted home 3 of his last 4 spot-kicks, all towards the left side.
And his miss against Elche remains the sole instance in recent times where the Frenchman tried to switch it up a bit.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out and his gaffer Carlo Ancelotti has taken up the blame.
Speaking in an interview with DIRECTV Latin America after the 2-2 draw, the Italian said, “it’s also my fault that Karim Benzema missed his penalty [against Elche]”.
“During the week I told him ‘they’re watching you a lot, maybe you should change the direction of your penalties’ and he changed it. It was my fault, I should have stayed quiet”.
Despite the end result, Ancelotti’s advice did contain a bit of wisdom.
Upon re-watching the miss, the Elche Keeper can clearly be seen diving to his left, just as Carlo predicted.
Following up on his advice, Benzema opted to go for the right side but his shot flew over the bar, had it gone in, the narrative would’ve been entirely different.
The miss is actually Benzema’s first-ever for Los Blancos.
The 34-year-old has enjoyed a glittering career at their Bernabeu, one that has spanned over a decade.
The fact that the miss against Elche was his first from a spot-kick exemplifies the Frenchman’s consistency.