Real Madrid v Chelsea: How Karim Benzema has become one of world's top strikers

When you play with a guy who scored 50 or 60 goals a season, you are at the service of the player.

I had to adapt. He left. It was up to me to show that I could make a difference.

When asked about his roles at Real Madrid, Benzema said, "These were my words."

The France forward will lead Real's attack in the second leg of their game against Chelsea on Tuesday, having scored a hat-trick in the first leg. He had hit three in a row as Paris St-Germain were eliminated in the last 16.

Benzema was found guilty of blackmail by a French court last November, but he has been in prolific form.

The forward has scored 11 goals in the competition this season, more than any other player.

Benzema spent years in the shadow of the Real Madrid player. The Frenchman has emerged as Real's main man and one of the most clinical attackers in Europe, even though he was once primarily a creator for others.

Benzema has hit 77 goals in 131 matches for the Blancos. How has he done it?

Scoring goals from unlikely scenarios

Benzema is a prolific scorer, but he is also a high-quality goal scorer. The strikers are producing finishes that are not possible for many forwards on a technical level, both with his feet and his head.

It has not always been this way. The Frenchman used to get a lot of criticism for his finishing. He was struggling as he began his final season with Real. Benzema missed six big chances in the 2-2 draw against Valencia in August of last year.

Throughout that season, those struggles continued. Benzema scored nine goals less than would have been expected from the chances he had, but he was still outperformed by his La Liga expected goals tally. His 24 La Liga goals have come from an xG of 19.85.

Benzema has always had a great touch and control in his game, but now he is using it to his advantage inside the penalty area.

The statistics show that. Benzema had 93 touches in the opposing penalty area. With more than a month left in the season, he is set to pass that comfortably, having reached 86. He is scoring from chances that other forwards wouldn't.

A slight positional tweak

It used to be common for Benzema to play with his back to goal and bring in other players. The Frenchman is more likely to collect the ball facing the goal now than he was previously.

In the four years since the departure ofRonaldo, Benzema has moved from being Real Madrid's central strikers to pulling into the inside- left channel. His decision-making takes over from there.

One of Benzema's greatest strengths is his football intelligence. He knows what he needs to do when he rolls inside from the left.

France came from a goal down to beat Spain in the Nations League final. After gaining a half-yard of space inside Spain's right-back Cesar Azpilicueta, Benzema quickly computed that there were no other team-mates in a better position to score, so he whipped the ball over goalkeeper Unai Simon from an audacious angle to score

With 10 minutes left in the game, Benzema got himself into a similar position. He detected Kylian Mbappe's run on the right side of the box and created a chance for him to win the match and the trophy.

From this area of the field, Benzema is very effective. Half of Benzema's touches outside of the box have come down the left third of the pitch.

Vinicius Junior has 17 goals for Real this season and his partnership with him has been potent.

Benzema and Vinicius have combined for 18 goals this season, where one has assisted the other to score. A common ploy has been Benzema dropping deep to pull an opposition centre-back out of the defensive line, which creates space for Vinicius to use his electric pace to run in behind off the left wing.

Build-up traits still shine through

There are forwards who don't touch a ball during the match, and then in the 87th minute they score, and they are very happy. If I don't contribute much with the ball, but I score in the 90th minute, I'm disgusted.

Despite his improvement as a goal scorer in the last five years, the essence of the Benzema quote still shines through in his play today.

He was the central link man for many of Real Madrid's attacks, as he showed against the Blues last week. His superb finish was only one part of his contribution to the first goal as he twice linked the play in the build-up.

Benzema is not only the top scorer in La Liga this season, but he is also the top assist man with 11, showing the complete number nine he has become.

Benzema is maintaining his classical skills as a player and also taking the best from his team-mates, but now combining this with phenomenal goal scoring numbers. It could carry him into contention for the Ballon d'Or.