As Real Madrid Are A Win Away From Dethroning Barca, Benzema Is Nearing Messi’s La Liga Record

Karim Benzema netted his 19th La Liga goal of the 2019-20 season as Real Madrid defeated Granada 2-1 on Monday, July 13.

With their recent victory, Real Madrid have gone four points clear on the top of the La Liga table and are just a win away from clinching the league title, which they last won in 2017.

With two more matches to go in the current La Liga campaign, the race to win the Golden Shoe Award is still wide open with Barcelona captain Lionel Messi on the pole position with 22 goals, but Real Madrid’s Benzema is not too far behind with 19 goals.

When La Liga was halted in March due to the outbreak of coronavirus, Messi had 19 goals to his name ahead of Benzema, who trailed the leader by five goals. However, since La Liga’s return in June, the Frenchman has been in a better form compared to his rival. While Benzema added another five goals to account to take his tally to 19, Messi has managed to score only three more, which came against Mallorca, Leganes and Atletico Madrid. Benzema now has a golden opportunity to pip Messi, arguably the best player in the world, to clinch La Liga 2019-20's Golden Shoe award by ending the season with the most number of goals.

Benzema will try to go on the goal sheet in Real Madrid’s final two matches, which are against Villarreal, who recently were thrashed 4-1 by Barcelona, and 18th placed Leganes, who lost 2-0 to Barcelona last month. Real, however, will be wary of Villarreal after these opponents had managed to hold Zinedine Zidane's side at a 2-2 draw when they faced off in the first leg last year. Meanwhile, Real Madrid thumped Leganes 5-0 in their first leg that was played at Santiago Bernabeu.

Last season, Messi was on a different level as he had defeated Benzema comprehensively to grab the Golden Shoe Award in La Liga. While Benzema had netted 21 goals, Messi ended the 2018-19 La Liga season with as many as 36 goals. Taking all the competitions into account, Messi finished the campaign with 51 goals to his name, while Benzema had managed to find the back of the net just 30 times throughout the 2018-19 season.