Europa League – Before Ol -Manchester: The day Karim Benzema shocked Manchester… and ignited England

“If his overall performance had impressed me? No, frankly no. The big players are present in the big matches. They assume, they do their job. He had made a global performance of high quality. But it was not exceptional for me. He was customary. It was like his season. He was decisive and made XXL performances in every match”.

The only season of Alain Perrin on the bench of Olympique Lyonnais coincided with two major facts: the only double French Cup – Championship in the history of the Rhone club. And the explosion of Karim Benzema with his training club. Training grounds to all the lawns of Ligue 1, from Stuttgart to Glasgow, above all, the one who was not yet nicknamed “KB9” therefore did not wait February 2008 and this eighth round of the Champions League against Manchester United to prove to his coach of the time how special. Nor to others, by the way. At that time, the new French football star was him.

And the information has already crossed the borders. “It's a possibility”loose Alex Ferguson about the possible recruitment of the French striker before the first leg. Jean-Michel Aulas will criticize him, after the Mancunian qualification (1-1 in Gerland, 1-0 at Old Trafford), for having tried to destabilize OL and his young attacker. But the future will prove that the interest of the Scottish technician was very concrete. How could it be otherwise after this first leg?

This Ol-Manchester, Benzema does not necessarily fly over it, at first. He keeps some precious balloons, obtains several backpacks to the goal and begins by missing two situations: a first by crushing his recovery on a corner (7th), and above all a second that he had accustomed us to no longer miss, on a service behind François Clerc (26th). Then arrives at the 54th minute.

Served by Jérémy Toulalan at 20 meters, the French international controls the left, is oriented from the right, then concluded from the left to the first post at a crazy speed. In the middle of Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Wes Brown, please. A flash has just struck Gerland. To celebrate the 7th of his 90 goals in C1, Benzema mime a shot from Bazooka, where he was customary of the machine gun so far. He just changed calibers.

“It is a very technical, very particular goalrecalls Alain Perrin. In the sense that it really uses its deep qualities of coordination, technique. It is not everyone who is able to make this chain at the speed where he did, in the middle of a defense. It was this fluidity that had struck me “. England with.

“The scorer coveted by Alex Ferguson could be his Nemesis in the Champions League”warns The Observer when we hear, among the colleagues of the weekly, of the “New Zinedine Zidane”, “Mélange de Ronaldinho et de ronaldo”, “greater hope for European football”the one “By whom anything can happen”. “We saw a big Karim Benzemaadmits Patrice Evra after the meeting. Ferguson really appreciates him and he told us to pay attention to him, that it was one of the best Lyonnais. “

The Manchester Evening News also remembers that Alex Ferguson had gone to the court in Benzema in the Tunnel of the Gerland stadium after the meeting. “If I had felt that something had changed around him? Yes, that's for sure. This is the reference for the selectors, it is the reference for recruiters. When players perform in these matches, we know that they can go to the upper scale”, confirms Perrin.

Benzema will do it 17 months later, joining … Real Madrid, where he won six Champions League. This time, the overview has something to impress.