When Karim Benzema finally spoke about his departure this Tuesday, two days after the official announcement published by the club, his farewell, an intimate event closed to the media in Valdebebas, contained many features of a painful, although inevitable break: “I don’t have many words, because it is a slightly sad day, because I am going to leave this club… And it hurts me, because, as I said before, I had a dream in my head, to sign with Madrid, and I wanted to end up at Madrid, but Sometimes in life there is another opportunity,” he said, referring to the succulent offer from Saudi Arabia to play for Al Ittihad in Jeddah, the team with which he signed his new contract on Tuesday.
It wasn’t just any relationship breaking up. Both the footballer and Florentino Pérez recalled the beginnings of the courtship, a gesture that the president of Real Madrid had not felt pushed to do with other signings. Nostalgia assailed Benzema: “A long time ago… he was just 21 years old. He went to my house, with my parents. And when I saw him, I said: ‘He is the man who brought Zizou, Ronaldo, and now he wants me on his team,’ he recalled. “Thank you very much for that. I will never forget Real Madrid, because it is impossible. Because it is the best club in the world, in history. There’s no more. But I think today is the time to go and see another story.
The moment was not easy for Pérez either, the first to speak at the event: “Today is a very difficult day for me, it is a day in which memories and emotions come to mind.” He was saying goodbye to a footballer that he fell in love with from the beginning, in which he saw a mixture between Ronaldo and Zidane, the two players that Benzema thought of when he met him in 2009 at his house. He was also saying goodbye to a boy whom he always felt “like a son.”
Also, looking back, Pérez has seen that that romance went quite well: “Today not one more player is leaving. Today one of the most incredible footballers in our history says goodbye to us”. The president spoke of the general sorrow for the moment: “Since the announcement of Karim Benzema’s farewell on Sunday, I have seen a feeling of sadness in the fans who have been moved by the magic of a unique player,” he collected. And as in the inevitable separations, he immediately returned to the happy times: “I want to tell everyone that this is the moment to remember the enormous fortune we have had to enjoy your football these 14 years. We have seen you do incredible things, and that is something that we will never forget, ”he said. “You have managed to get all of us who love football excited. You have been a different footballer, and there are many who have been slow to understand you”.
Because it was like that: Florentino Pérez and Karim Benzema began as a misunderstood love story. However, 14 years after that visit to the Bron family home, the legacy is indisputable. The footballer with the most titles in the club’s history (25), the second top scorer and the last Ballon d’Or is leaving, after the incredible comeback European Cup: “With your leadership, your attitude and your football, we got there to achieve a unique feat in history and that will be remembered forever”.
After those amazing nights at the Bernabéu, the Frenchman’s performance has dipped somewhat this season. He had one year left on his contract, but Madrid decided to facilitate his departure to Arabia without asking for a transfer in exchange. “You have earned the right to decide your destiny, a future that only belongs to you. And we must accept and respect it,” Pérez explained.
There were no tears, but both the soccer player and the president seemed very moved at times: “Thank you for this love story that we have lived together and that is undoubtedly eternal,” said Pérez.
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