Karim I the Generous

(Karim: “It is said of the generous person”.

Karama: Noun of Karim. Meaning: generosity).

It is well known that the caliphates of the great times were known for their generosity and ability to give and help the people in need. In fact, the story goes that one of the caliphs of the Ommiyen era, OMAR IBN KHATTAB, once found an evicted old man without a roof over his head and without financial resources to buy food. Seeing him in such hardship, OMAR threw a big tantrum and scolded his ministers:

― How can it be that this poor old man, precarious in health and homeless, cannot have any economic help so as not to go hungry?

Hence, history and historians claim that he was the first man to approve the subsidy as we know it today.

With this I do not want to teach you about the Muslim religion, although it has a lot to do with our protagonist Karim Benzema and his embrace of Islam.

In my article, although it seems at first to be anything but football, I am going to go into the matter to explain the delicious transformation of our best center forward, and very probably the best footballer on the planet football. The numbers don’t lie: Top scorer in one of the best leagues in the world, if not the best, top scorer in the Champions League edition, best player this year in the Champions League, top assists, Onze D’or award. And most certainly, if logic prevails, common sense, even poetic justice -which generally puts artists in their place, which is none other than to remain for posterity- Ballon d’Or. They know that Benzema is an artist even in the Toponguli tribe (if it exists). What the great crowd doesn’t know is that he was a rebel without a cause, a misunderstood genius… Kid stuff, they said.

The Nobel laureate García Márquez used to say that “a good maturity is nothing more than a pact with solitude.” Karim Benzema is no stranger to the passage of time, like all living beings, but I think that the famous phrase of my admired Colombian writer is not can attribute to the great French footballer, since the only argument that supports Karim’s metamorphosis is none other than maturity.”Since there is nothing more precious than time, there is no greater generosity than losing it without counting,” he says Marcel H. Jouhandeau.

This phrase fits like a glove to the interpretation of the crack madridista: simply, Karim’s physical maturity coincides with the maturity of his soul. And that rarely happens.

Here’s why maturity is wonderful. Even getting old has many advantages, as ridiculous as that may sound. There are good things about old age, although Karim still has a long way to go to reach that age.

Advantages of maturity:

-Improves concentration: with age, one concentrates more and better on their goals.

-Migraines disappear: it is popular wisdom that young people are affected by this painful disease, which luckily ends with the passage of time.

-Increases our capacity and intellectual lucidity.

-It enriches our vocabulary: it is more than proven that in maturity a much richer vocabulary is reached than in early youth.

– Much more oxygen reaches the lungs compared to earlier ages.

With this I do not mean that being old is the panacea (pun intended) but, at least, if you are not Queen Elizabeth or Jordi Hurtado, you will not want to be old right away. (If you live outside of Spain and have not seen “Know and win”, the joke loses a lot).

Now you understand me when I say why Karim Benzema has become the best in the world and, of course, a better person. Because with this I do not mean that young people are not, but simply that maturity suits some of us well. Karim, of course, came from the movies, because now Karim no longer plays, now he falls in love. Benzema not only assists on the pitch: he assists his teammates on and off the pitch. The French crack has no vision of the game: he has a telescope-radar to see and detect any movement of his teammates and/or opponents and to attack spaces, less populated areas, see where to do damage….

Gone is that 20-year-old boy who was rejected by the FC Barcelona coaching staff for “bad company” and who could be problematic (but they signed Ibrahimovic, who was a real time bomb). Guardiola did not like charismatic people as much as a typo, no matter how talented the writer. Then, Mr. Florentino Pérez signed him for a blockbuster, as my admired Jorge Valdano would say.

Not another thing, but our president has such an innate gift for human resources and had blind faith in the footballer from Lyon. Even in his troubled times, he had a hunch and told him: You’re going to be a Ballon d’Or one day! And boy was he right. Even José Mourinho had it despite his famous speech on small game hunting (when he said: “If I don’t have a dog to hunt, I’ll go with the cat”). Then, at the end of the 2012-2013 season, when it was his turn to say goodbye of its president, told him: “Don’t bring Benzema any starting striker who will compete with him.” A great gesture of honesty and Real Madrid on the part of the Portuguese genius.

And boy, was he not wrong! Because that cat became a lynx capable of hunting the most difficult prey: see Ulrich, Karius, Donnarumma and Mendy. Everyone can testify to it.

That ugly duckling became a dancing white swan, who very often plays the musician, plays us the best melodies and composes symphonies. Specifically, he composed THE TENTH, THE ELEVENTH, THE TWELFTH, THE THIRTEENTH and, for his elevation to the temple of the elect, finished it off with a masterpiece: THE FOURTEENTH.

Like someone who does nothing, one reason was simply enough: to make as many hearts as possible fall in love. And all this was achieved with just one state of mind and one word: Maturity.

PS: This article is dedicated to Pablo Laso, whom I wish a speedy recovery. And, of course, also to his protagonist Karim Benzema (Abu Ibrahim).