Recently, "alien" Ronaldo said in an interview with Sky Sports Italy that he believes that his generation of stars is stronger than The Mero generation, although Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar are good, but other players have not reached the same level, and the current players are in better health, but his generation of players is much stronger in technology.
It's an interesting comparison. A phenomenon that is often mentioned is that the classic "No. 10 player" has become less and less living space in today's football, for example, in the most popular 433 formation in European football, there is no forward position, but the "B2B" midfielder who is good at going back and forth between the two penalty areas is popular, and the requirements for midfielders are often both offensive and defensive and have strong coverage capabilities.
So from the perspective of individual players, has the individual ability of players declined? Let's start with the hottest Benzema of the season – if you put it in Ronaldo's time, what is Benzema's personal ability?
Benzema has never touched the Ballon d'Or so far, but in recent years, some public opinion has often included Benzema along with Lewandowski, Suarez and others among the best "No. 9" players today. Born in 1976 and 11 years older than Benzema, what other outstanding strikers were there in Ronaldo's time?
The answer is: there are many. We can make a long list: those born in the same year as Ronaldo include Shevchenko, Cruyvet, Van Nistroy, Tristan, Morientes and Nuno-Gomez, those born in 1977, Henry and Trezeguet of France, Raul of Spain and Tony of Italy, in addition to Vieri and Grand Inzaghi, born in 1973, Piero and Claudio Lopez born in 1974, Crespo, Mackay and Viduka born in 1975. Drogba and Croze, born in 1978, and Michael Owen, born in 1979... Wait a minute.
In the past, the player who scored the most goals was often the center forward, and behind the center was the skilled and good at planning the attack of the "No. 10" player, and a team will pin the hope of scoring on the center - they need to find a way to deliver the shells to them. However, as the two most outstanding players in the post-80s, Messi and Ronaldo are actually not centers, they are not active at the forefront of their own offensive line, but this does not affect them to become the players who score the most goals. This also reflects the evolution of football techniques and tactics from another level - modern football emphasizes the whole as a whole, and also emphasizes the comprehensiveness of the player's ability, and the ability of the wingers to cut inwards.
Benzema is fully technical, he was a "little bully" who liked to attack with the ball on the wing in his early years, gradually developed the fulcrum attribute after Real Madrid, and in recent years has become a prolific goalscorer, as his performance on the pitch has become more prominent, his reputation has become higher and higher - in the past, many people thought that Benzema could not be compared with Levan or Suarez, who produced stable output, but in fact, the "old-fashioned" Benzema has been the biggest favorite of this year's Ballon d'Or Awards, and it is obvious that Benzema's wind evaluation in recent years has improved a lot.
So if you compare Benzema to the post-70s striker, what level is he at? From the current point of view, Benzema can be roughly regarded as a player of the same level as Sheva, Henry and others. The common feature of the three is their strong ball-on-ball ability and all-round technique, which can be used to hold the ball and play alone, as well as as a finisher to complete the shooting task.
Although they can't be compared to the talent of Ronaldo, they are actually people who have the ability to change the game at the top level. Perhaps regrettably, in the years when Benzema's physical function is more prominent, he is more of an assistant to C Ronaldo, leaving the world with relatively few pictures of single-handedly solving battles; by the time Benzema matures in consciousness, archery and other links, the task of sprinting in the national team and club has been more taken over by the young Mbappe or Vinicius.
Relatively speaking, Dynamo Kiev and Shevchenko in Milan and Henry in Arsenal have more shots of challenging the entire back line on their own, and their all-round talent in terms of speed, strength and dribbling makes them in their prime years enough to launch a direct impact on the opposing defense.
Former Barcelona centre-forward Cruyvit is considered a player whose achievements cannot match his talent, and he and Benzema also have some similarities: both are teenagers, their football talent and understanding are recognized by experts, but they are more likely to appear as "green leaves" with great tactical value but not dazzling data for a period of their careers - Cruyvet has Rivaldo and Figo around him, and Benzema's starlight has been overshadowed by Cristiano Ronaldo and Bale.
However, it is clear that Benzema has a more successful and enduring career than Kluivert – Kluivert was only 32 years old when he retired, while Benzema's heroic performance after the age of 30 is obvious to all.
Relatively speaking, the likes of Vieri, Van Nistrui and Trezeguet are close to pure goalscorers, who have dominated the top few in the top few of the top scorers in Serie A and the Premier League for many years, and have very prominent individual abilities, such as Vieri's extremely impactful physical confrontation, Van Nissy's super ability to work in small penalty areas and Trezeguet's ability to directly attack the goal in various ways without stopping the ball. However, although the heroic posture of these famous shooters on the pitch is still fresh in our minds, in terms of ability and honor, Benzema seems to have surpassed the above-mentioned predecessors.
On the comprehensive, Benzema can plan the attack, can go to the wing to rush to the front of the goal, the attack method is more diverse; on the honor, Benzema and Real Madrid won four Champions League trophies, in terms of club honor is an absolute winner; on durability, Benzema at the age of 33, 4 years old but played the best performance of his career, which surprised many people.
Given Benzema's recent performances, many believe that the French striker is already the biggest favourite at this year's Ballon d'Or. Last year was Benzema's closest year to the Ballon d'Or, but this season Benzema's performances have been more convincing than last season.'s Among the aforementioned post-70s strikers, the only three who have won the Ballon d'Or are Ronaldo, Shevchenko and Irving.
Ronaldo as one of the best players in history is difficult to surpass, but for Benzema, if he can win this year's Ballon d'Or, Then Benzema's historical status will undoubtedly go to a new level - considering Sheva's national team hard injury and Henry's never won the Ballon d'Or, this will make it possible for Benzema to surpass all the post-70s strikers except Ronaldo.
In addition, this year's Qatar World Cup is also crucial, France has an enviable talent pool, although the competition is fierce, but it does provide an extremely rare opportunity for Benzema to make up for the shortcomings of the "national team honor".
Benzema can achieve today's achievements, of course, inseparable from its own talent, but Benzema also has to thank many people. From Benzema to the "Benzer pot", he has experienced a lot, but Real Madrid has always given him trust, Florentino, who brought him from Lyon to Real Madrid, is a staunch supporter of Benzema, as well as Zidane's personal words that "if you don't like Benzema, you don't know the ball", and the club's support for Him when He was out of the field.
(Comparison of goal statistics produced by the three major centers and some historical centers in the top five leagues)
A few years ago, when Benzema's starlight was completely covered up by C Ronaldo, some people lamented that if Benzema had chosen to join Real Madrid, perhaps Benzema would have killed four parties in other arenas. But today we don't have to dwell on this – in fact, the media and fans don't have to worry too much about the right, Benzema seems to be the one who is the most "loved" and "sheltered" in the "BBC" group, and he is destined to be one of the most profound football memories of this era. (Santiago-Wang)