Player Review

Well, I packed TOTY Benzema from one of those 80+ upgrades you can complete 100 times... a few hours after the release. Am I lucky? very lucky. I didn't expect to pack anything from those upgrades, but did want to get something from the 50 different packs I've saved for TOTY defenders, because I thought there was no chance for me to pack any attacker TOTY. I even skipped the animation an didn't see Benzema walking out lol. Obviously I've had to change my team to fit Benzy in, and thankfully I've had Rulebreaker Alaba and WC hero Morientes so this part wasn't a headache as usually.

I tried Benzema in a few Rivals games before heading into WL, and he was damn good pretty much as I expected. A lil bit of general info for you to know what's my player level in FIFA - I'm a Div 1/ Elite Div player, 11-13 wins in WL. Far from the best but also far from the worst. My favourite formation is 3-5-2 as it gives me the opportunity to have enough players in both attack and defense. You can check my team in the link I left here, but in-game it looked slightly different - CB: Maldini, VVD, Fabinho. CDM: Alaba, Yaya Toure. LM&RM: Antony, Trippier. CAM: Stoichkov. ST: Morientes and the main man Benzema. Benzema's instructions were False 9, Stay Central and basic defense support (Most of the time, in rare cases when I had to go all in he just was on forward runs and stay forward instructions). Morientes was making forward runs and playing as a target man, while stoichkov joined the attack from behind and playing as second striker. That was my gameplan throughout all the 20 WL games.

Now, I've collected a bit more detailed stats rather than just the general 'Goals + Assists'. Let me present you Karim's detailed stats from the 20 games played in his debut WL:

: Average Per Match

Rating - 8.09

Goals - 1.5

Assists - 0.8

Shots - 3.6

Shots on Target - 89%

Passes - 14

Pass Accuracy - 85%

Dribbles - 15

Dribble Success - 75%

Offsides - 0.05 (He was often in deeper areas on the pitch)

Possessions Won - 0.6

Possessions Lost - 5.3

Minutes Played - 65 (Often opponents quitted too early)

In the middle of the WL, I was on a 8-6 record, and It all looked like another week where I start well (6 straight wins) and end up with 11 wins. However this wasn’t the case. Benzema led my team to a very strong finish, winning the last 6 games. It was the first time I managed to complete 14 wins, after numerous failures in the past months it felt really really good.

Now, It’s time to talk about Benzema in general. He’s an end game striker, who’s got perfect shooting and passing. His vision and passing skills really impressed me. He completes those tricky passes which often you mean to do but most other players end up passing to a completely different player or in a completely different way and those attempts never reach the target. Benzema has this playmaker trait for a reason, he’s running the entire attack when needed while still being a top tier finisher. What isn't perfect and honestly feels lower than the stats say are his Pace and Physicality. He doesn’t run like a 99 paced player, more like a 94-95, he often gets caught by those meta CB as Maldini VVD and Lucio and they often body him without him being a challenge for them, although the stats say he’s got 95 strength. Anyway, he’s still better at those components than most other players in the game, especially if you use him the right way. What really makes him that deadly forward and puts him in the same category as R9 and Mbappe, it’s his reactions and positioning on the pitch. He’s always first on the ball no matter what, and always comes to the right areas when I’m looking to make a pass or cross.

To summarize my long review, I’ve got to say he’s definitely worth the price (2M at the moment, will drop to 1.5M in the following weeks probably). Considering that he’s the cheapest forward out of the TOP Meta tier, I highly recommend trying him out if you’ve got the budget. Benzema is an allrounder in the attack and definitely a big game changer. I’m really happy to have him on my team!