Benzema struggles with Champions League semi-finals

Real Madrid's French striker has played 11 semi-finals and has only been capable of scoring two of the 18 goals Madrid scored.

This evening Karim Benzema may have one of his last chances to stake his claim to being Real Madrid's number 9. There's fewer better places than the semi-finals of the Champions League against Real Madrid's biggest European rivals: Bayern Munich.

But Benzema doesn't just have to face the German defence, he also has to confront his own statistics in semi-finals since he joined Real Madrid in 2009/10. That year Real Madrid were knocked out in the last 16, as was usual back then. The team, coached by Pellegrini, were sent packing by Olympique Lyon. Since then however Real Madrid have been constant contenders at the semi-final stage of the Champions League: three times under Mourinho, twice with Ancelotti and three with Zidane. In total, 15 semi-final matches, in which Benzema took part in 11 at some point. In 2010/11 against Barcelona he was left out of both legs for tactical reasons, as was the case in the first leg against Juve in 2014/15. He also missed the second leg against City in 15/16 for a knee niggle.

Benzema fails to shine in Champions League semi-finals

In those 11 semi-final matches in which Benzema took part, Real Madrid have scored 18 gaols, with the Frenchman contributing just two: one against Dortmund in the Bernabéu in 2012/13 and the other against Bayern, also in Madrid, in 2013/14.

Four seasons later and Benzema hasn't scored in another semi in the Champions League. Not that he's done much better in finals. He's played in three, from the start, and hasn't scored. Meanwhile Cristiano Ronaldo has notched three, Ramos two, and Casemiro, Marcelo, Bale and Asensio have all bagged one.