Real’s Ancelotti Backs Benzema for Ballon D’Or

Karim Benzema celebrates after scoring against Mallorca in the Spanish league on Wednesday. (Reuters)
Karim Benzema celebrates after scoring against Mallorca in the Spanish league on Wednesday. (Reuters)
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Real’s Ancelotti Backs Benzema for Ballon D’Or

Karim Benzema celebrates after scoring against Mallorca in the Spanish league on Wednesday. (Reuters)
Karim Benzema celebrates after scoring against Mallorca in the Spanish league on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has backed forward Karim Benzema to win the Ballon D’Or, comparing the Frenchman to a wine that gets better with age.

The award, which has been dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years, is as open a contest as ever as the duo age and Benzema’s form in 2021 has led to calls from the local media for him to be given the gong.

The 33-year-old France striker has started the season on fire, netting eight goals with seven assists as Real have shot to the top of LaLiga.

He will look to add to that tally and keep his side flying high when Villarreal visit the Bernabeu on Saturday. Real are top by two points from Atletico Madrid after six games.

“For what he’s doing and for what he’s done, he has to be in the list of possible winners,” Ancelotti said of Benzema.

“Saying that, Karim’s got time to win it. I somehow doubt this is his final season - he’s like a fine wine; the older he gets the better he is.”

The Italian coach added that with such a packed schedule - Real host Sheriff in the Champions League on Tuesday - he will be rotating his squad.

“Players who haven’t been playing will have the chance to play in the next games because they’re fresher,” he said.

“You can’t train at intensity because you’re playing a game every three days. We’re doing a lot of video analysis of what we’ve done well and what we need to improve.”

Ancelotti will be without six first team players for the visit of Unai Emery’s side, who have also made an unbeaten start to the season, albeit having only won one of their five games while drawing the other four.



Kalimuendo Has Hat Trick in Rennes Rout while PSG Held at Home

Rennes' French forward #09 Arnaud Kalimuendo celebrates scoring his team's fourth goal during the French L1 football match between Stade Rennais FC and Saint-Etienne (ASSE) at the Roazhon Park Stadium in Rennes, western France on November 30, 2024. (Photo by Damien Meyer / AFP)
Rennes' French forward #09 Arnaud Kalimuendo celebrates scoring his team's fourth goal during the French L1 football match between Stade Rennais FC and Saint-Etienne (ASSE) at the Roazhon Park Stadium in Rennes, western France on November 30, 2024. (Photo by Damien Meyer / AFP)
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Kalimuendo Has Hat Trick in Rennes Rout while PSG Held at Home

Rennes' French forward #09 Arnaud Kalimuendo celebrates scoring his team's fourth goal during the French L1 football match between Stade Rennais FC and Saint-Etienne (ASSE) at the Roazhon Park Stadium in Rennes, western France on November 30, 2024. (Photo by Damien Meyer / AFP)
Rennes' French forward #09 Arnaud Kalimuendo celebrates scoring his team's fourth goal during the French L1 football match between Stade Rennais FC and Saint-Etienne (ASSE) at the Roazhon Park Stadium in Rennes, western France on November 30, 2024. (Photo by Damien Meyer / AFP)

Striker Arnaud Kalimuendo scored a hat trick and Rennes got back to winning ways in Ligue 1 by thrashing 10-man Saint-Etienne 5-0 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, leader Paris Saint-Germian dropped points at home when it drew with Nantes 1-1.
Rennes coach Jorge Sampaoli's first win with his new team came in his second match in charge after he took over this month, The Associated Press reported.
Rennes had failed to score in more than a month and lost its three previous matches. The result lifted the host one point above Saint-Etienne.
Visiting Saint-Etienne made things difficult for itself when Mathieu Cafaro, who hit the post earlier, was sent off for a handball in the box in the 37th minute.
Kalimuendo put Rennes in the driving seat from the penalty spot two minutes later, and they returned to the locker room with a two-goal lead after Ludovic Blas, who was excellent throughout, found the net in added time.
Kalimuendo added another goal with a nice finish and converted a second penalty to seal his first Ligue 1 hat trick. Amine Gouiri also scored.
“We’re not going to say that everything clicked; we’re not going to get carried away. But it’s true that it feels good to win, to score a lot of goals, and to keep a clean sheet," Gouiri said. “However, we were helped by that red card. We need to enjoy this but not get ahead of ourselves. We have to build on the positives to keep going. It’s good for confidence."
The fiery Sampaoli returned to French soccer following a previous stint with Marseille. Sampaoli was in charge of Argentina at the 2018 World Cup. He has also coached clubs in Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Spain and Brazil. Sampaoli abruptly left Marseille in July 2022 after leading the team back to the Champions League, over a disagreement related to the club’s transfers of players.
PSG held at home PSG could not hold onto an early lead against Nantes at Parc des Princes.
Achraf Hakimi put PSG in front early but the hosts were wasteful against a very defensive Nantes that leveled against the run of the play before the interval. Matthis Abline beat Gianluigi Donnarumma with a left-footed shot after dribbling past Willian Pacho.
Donnarumma, who was dropped midweek during a 1-0 Champions League loss at Bayern Munich, made a reflex save near the hour mark to salvage the draw.
Uninspired, Luis Enrique’s team remained unbeaten in the league, extending its lead over second-placed Monaco to seven points. The Principality side travels to third-placed Marseille on Sunday.
Nantes remained 16th, the relegation playoff position.
Brest bounces back The Brittany side recovered from a 3-0 loss at Barcelona in the Champions League midweek by beating Strasbourg 3-1. The result snapped a three-match losing run in Ligue 1, and moved Brest to 10th place.