Pictures of Karim Benzema receiving the Ballon d’Or award have sparked a lot of interest due to one peculiarity.
It was definitely not the fact that it was him that won the award, as the large consensus since the end of last year has been that he should be the rightful recipient of the prestigious award.
The Frenchman has blown the competition out of the water with 44 goals and 15 assists in 46 appearances across all competitions last season.
That equates to a goal contribution roughly every 67 minutes.
During Monday night’s Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris, pictures of his unstrapped hand showing his crooked pinky finger have lead fans asking questions about the reason behind it.
The 34-year-old usually wears strapping over his wrist and two of his fingers, including the pinky, which explains the fans’ surprise.
The image of him celebrating a goal with it have become iconic and reminiscent to that of Luis Suarez, who also wore a similar brace for his own reasons.
But unlike the temperamental Uruguayan, Benzema has started wearing it more recently.
It was January 14th, 2019, when during a La Liga game against Real Betis, Benzema had broken his right-hand pinky during the first-half stoppage time at the Benito Villamarin.
After a coming together with defender Marc Bartra, Benzema fell over on his hand and had to be taken off just before half time.
Real Madrid would go on to win the game, but bad news befell the number 9.
Surgery was advised but determined to stay in action, the striker returned to the starting eleven the succeeding week at home against Sevilla, with the said brace over his right hand.
This certainly proved to be a pivotal decision as staying out of the Real Madrid side could have meant a whole another sequence of events, one that would not have culminated with him celebrating goals so often ever since that fateful day.
As if to vindicate his choice immediately, he proceeded to score twice the following week against Espanyol and hasn’t looked back since.
Surgery would have required him to stay in the sidelines for months, leaving him vulnerable to losing his spot in the team which didn’t sit well with Benzema, and apparently still doesn’t.
According to rumours, he still needs to have a surgery to reduce risk of further fracture but keeps putting it off seeing that he’s indispensable to both France and Real Madrid’s aspirations.
Relentless schedules for top sides mean that players representing them do not have any window of recuperation, with the World Cup smack in the middle of the season this year.
Players in starting elevens of teams playing biweekly thus have to operate on a tightrope of fitness and getting as much match time as possible to impress their national team coaches.
Benzema’s crooked finger therefore serves as a small reminder of the sacrifices that elite footballers have to make in order to keep their adoring fans entertained week in and week out.