Real Madrid striker, Karim Benzema, says former teammate and five-time Ballon D’or winner is yet to send him a congratulatory message since he won the most prestigious individual award in October. Ronaldo and Benzema spent more than a decade together as teammates at Los Blancos in a span in which Ronaldo won four awards.
Benzema beat former Liverpool forward Sadio Mané to win the award last night for the first time in his career.
“I always believed in myself, I knew that at some point or another with my qualities and my ambitions I could win it,” he told Telefoot.
“That’s why the last four years, I pushed, pushed again to get that trophy.”
When asked whether Ronaldo had been in touch to congratulate him, Benzema said: “No, not yet.”
“I’m proud to play in this World Cup,” Benzema said. “We know what it means. I can’t wait for it to start. Stress? No, I just want to start soon. To be able to show what we can do in front of millions of people.
“To represent France. Inevitably, we think about it [a third World Cup win]. But I don’t tell myself that I have to win it because I don’t play alone. We are a group and every match is a final.
“And the closer we get to it, the more we will say to ourselves that we have to win. On paper, we are the best, and should not hide it. But football is 11 against 11, and we will have to treat our opponents with ambition and respect.”
