Karim Benzema sent jaws hurtling to the floor with his performance for Real Madrid against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night. When Thierry Henry eventually reattached his, Micah Richards gave a take that threatened to send it flying again.
To recap, PSG went ahead in Madrid before half-time thanks to a brilliant goal by Kylian Mbappe. Adding to Mbappe’s goal in stoppage-time of the first leg, this put PSG two-nil up on aggregate. Madrid needed to find an extra gear after the break.
An intense press coupled with vociferous support from the home fans led to PSG fumbling their lines. Every time they made a mistake, Benzema seemed to be there to capitalise. He scored a hat-trick in the space of 18 minutes, with his third, the deciding goal, coming straight from the kick-off that resulted from his second.
Anyone watching who previously doubted Benzema had become a believer. One of those newly-converted followers was Richards, who sat in the CBS Sports studio alongside Thierry Henry and Jamie Carragher.
Micah Richards shares Karim Benzema take
The discourse after this match focused on both the quality of Benzema and PSG’s habit of choking at the biggest moment. The studio trio focused on the former with Richards admitting he doubted Benzema before this performance.
Read: Fans react after hilarious Lionel Messi ‘donkey’ message to Carragher.
Richards: “When he was at Real Madrid, he was in Ronaldo’s shadow a little bit, and I seen him miss some big chances. And I didn’t think he was at the level… I know [about] the goals he scored, and a lot of people would say he should score them goals in a Real Madrid team that’s challenging for the league every single year. But now, he’s convinced me that he’s…”
Henry: “Just now?!”
Richards: “Only now, I’ll be honest!”
Henry: “Just tonight?!”
Richards: “Well, not tonight, but..”
Carragher broke the tension with a quip.
Carragher: “Just the second half! Even at half-time, he wasn’t convinced!”
Richards: “Of late, over the last six months, he’s convinced me he’s up there with Harry Kane and [Robert] Lewandowski.”
Henry’s eyebrows shoot up and his eyes bulge.
Henry: “Wow. Just tonight?”
Richards: “The last six months.”
Henry: “The last six months. Wow.”
Reaction to the conversation
Henry set the tone for the most common reaction to this chat, which is one of bafflement. A lot of Reddit users mocked Richards for his take, calling his punditry poor. However, this wasn’t the only view on it.
Others leapt to Richards’ defence, pointing out that Benzema hasn’t always been this good, registering five goals across an entire league season as recently as 2018. Plus, Harry Kane has a proven record at the highest level, recently overtaking Henry in the all-time scorers’ list in the Premier League.