A star-studded evening at the Theatre du Chatelet saw Karim Benzema pick up the 66th annual Ballon d’Or award, which the striker himself labelled as the ‘Ballon d’Or of the people.’
All eyes were on the French International who rolled up to the event in some dapper Tupac-inspired drip and even brought along his own posse.
As Zinedine Zidane read out his name, chants of ‘Karim, Karim, Karim’ broke out, affirming once and for all that Big Boy Benzi has the streets.
The 34-year-old claimed his maiden Ballon d’Or on the back of a sublime season, which saw him score 44 goals and register 15 assists.
Paired alongside La Liga and Champions League triumphs with Real Madrid, it’s safe to say that Benzema’s win was all but confirmed.
From being overshadowed by his teammates and embroiled in controversy to finally becoming Madrid’s main man, it has been quite the journey.
And while there’s plenty more to say about football’s quintessential ‘bad boy’, it’s also important to pay heed to other nominees who missed out on the top prize.
Sadio Mane surprisingly finished as the runner-up, while Kevin De Bruyne rounded out the top 3. The top 10 rankings also included the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe, Mo Salah, and Vini Jr among others.
In case you haven’t already noticed, there were 2 very notable absentees from the top 10, with one of them not featuring in the final 25 at all.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi, who dominated the event for the last 12 years, were both miles away from even contending for the title, with Ronaldo finishing 20th, and Messi not featuring at all.
Having already accomplished really everything there is, you can imagine that the 2 GOATS weren’t all that bothered by missing out.
But what if their competitive spirits simply couldn’t let it go? How would it have felt seeing Benzema beam brightly next to the Ballon d’Or?
Well, Football Twitter tried its hand at answering that question, as it cooked up another hilarious video-game edit.
On this occasion, the game in use was WWE 2K22, a wrestling simulation game bearing the WWE license.
The user, through some tireless character creation, managed to replicate the likenesses of CR7, LM10 and KB9, and even added in accurate kits.
What follows is a 2v1 handicap match, with Messi and Ronaldo pledging allegiance against a ‘common enemy’.
If you’ve ever wondered how the duo would fare as teammates, here’s a glimpse of it…at least technically.
With Benzema against the turnbuckle, Ronaldo tags in the PSG forward, and the duo then go on to perform a splendid tag-team manoeuvre.
Messi lands a kick to the Frenchman’s face which is followed up with a knee from Ronaldo, who then delivers an exquisite moonsault, with Messi providing the assist of course.
We don’t really know what to make of the edit but hey, fans online found it funny, and that’s pretty much the purpose anyway.
