Karim Benzema comes out of Celtic vs Real Madrid with multiple game absence

By Dave Flanigan

September 8, 2022

Real Madrid star Karim Benzema is set to miss Real Madrid’s next three games with an injury sustained in Los Blancos’ 3-0 win over Celtic in Paradise on Tuesday.

The striker limped off towards the end of the first half, and was replaced by Eden Hazard who went on to score Real’s third with just under fifteen minutes of the match remaining.

Spanish football outlet Marca report that Benzema will target a comeback in Real’s home game against Osasuna, which means he’ll miss Matchday 2 of the Champions League against RB Leipzig at the Santiago Bernabeu.

It would be a huge boost for the Bundesliga side who sacked Domenico Tedesco after Leipzig’s 4-1 home thumping against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday, with Marco Rose appointed as his successor this morning.

Benzema is also due to miss Real’s home game against Mallorca on Saturday, the upcoming Madrid derby and France’s international fixtures against Austria, Denmark and Australia at the end of the month.

The striker came off of a career-best campaign with 44 goals last year and has scored four already this season, but was unable to add to his tally at Celtic Park before succumbing to his injury.

Real manager Carlo Ancelotti stated after Real’s 2-1 win over Betis that he’s planning to manage the star’s minutes this season, with Benzema now 34 years old and Madrid facing a fixture accumulation similar to most big clubs due to the mid-season World Cup.

Ancelotti said [translated by DeepL]: “We are not going to kill him. The fact that he plays every three days may mean he needs to rest a game, but so far, with one game a week, I’ve seen him well.”

Whilst Benzema’s injury will be a blow to Real, the European champions showed on Tuesday the wealth of talent at their disposal, meaning that they should be more than capable of coping in his absence, despite his spectacular form over the last year.

For Celtic, they’ll have to focus on their own task at hand, as they travel to Warsaw to face Shakhtar Donetsk next Wednesday, with that game likely to be critical to both sides’ hopes of progression from Group F.

In other news: Ange Postecoglou provides class media response to persistent Celtic European question