Inside Karim Benzema’s rough Lyon suburb where he grew up with four sisters and three brothers in a hotbed of crime
KARIM BENZEMA left the troubled streets of Bron-Terraillon 26 years ago. But he still calls the beautiful chaos of this sprawling Lyon suburb home. SunSport travelled to Benzema’s first football club and the house he grew up in to see where it all began for the Real Madrid striker, 34. The French star was a […]
KARIM BENZEMA left the troubled streets of Bron-Terraillon 26 years ago.
But he still calls the beautiful chaos of this sprawling Lyon suburb home.
SunSport travelled to Benzema’s first football club and the house he grew up in to see where it all began for the Real Madrid striker, 34.
The French star was a “timid and skinny” kid who was drowned out by the shrill of 50cc motorbike engines, boy-racers and sirens in the streets of his neighbourhood.
Benzema lived 50 metres from his first club, SC Bron-Terraillon, with his four sisters, three brothers and their parents, nestled in a tangle of social housing.
Like many of France’s ‘banlieues’, the area — built in the 1960s mostly for North African immigrant workers and their families — is seen as a hotbed for crime.
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Yet these same suburbs have provided all the ingredients for footballers like Benzema to age like fine wine into some of the world’s most potent strikers.
Frederic Rigolet, who was Benzema’s first coach in 1995 and now teaches his nephews, said: “He was small and skinny, his brother was more muscular and taller.
“He didn’t speak and was very timid. He was always like that, didn’t speak much and he still doesn’t.
“When he was younger he just played football and always had a ball in his hand.
“He played in front of the wall and just passed to himself alone.
“Even when he was a bit older at Lyon around age 14, 15, he would come back and train alone in front of the wall when he didn’t have training.
“He’s very loyal, he has always had the same friends from Bron and it is the same now.”
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The Benzemas no longer live around the corner from the club but for many of the family it is still their inner sanctum.
His sisters stand on the sidelines, dressed in low-key clothes, looking like any mums watching their kids at football practice.
But it is easy to spot the striker’s nieces and nephews training in their brand new Real Madrid kits with ‘Benzema 9’ on the back, given to them by their uncle who they hope to one day follow in his footsteps.
Rigolet added: “They are just normal people. His family come here because they know people won’t bother them.
“We knew them before Karim became a star and we don’t care about the glamour.
“He’s just a guy from our area. Honestly, we couldn’t imagine he would become the player he is. I liked coaching him but I didn’t know he would become the star he is.”
Benzema’s mother, Wahida, was born and raised in Lyon but his father, Hafid, emigrated to France from the same part of north-east Algeria as Zinedine Zidane’s parents.
They settled beyond Lyon’s metro lines in the socially and economically neglected suburbs — but they kept Benzema on the straight and narrow.
When he joined Lyon in 1997 they made sure the French side provided him with digs at the club to keep him off the streets.
Rigolet said: “It’s called a priority zone, so it’s quite dangerous, but we have always lived here and it has never been a problem.
“His parents took care of him. His mother asked Lyon to let him stay permanently with them, so he lived at the training ground and didn’t come back.
“He could not stay in Bron, they did it for his protection.
“Normally, Lyon wouldn’t do that because they prefer to give the rooms for people who come from far away but for Karim they did it.”
Former Real keeper Iker Casillas described Benzema as both ‘Spiderman’ and ‘Wolverine’, while Rio Ferdinand suggested the Ballon d’Or will soon have his name engraved on it.
The striker is in the form of his life at the ripe age of 34 and is set to make his 600th Los Blancos appearance against Manchester City on Tuesday.
He’s just a guy from our area. Honestly, we couldn’t imagine he would become the player he is. I liked coaching him but I didn’t know he would become the star he is.
Youth coach Frederic Rigolet
Real fans will be hoping for a repeat of his Champions League masterclass against Chelsea.
Rigolet said: “All Bron people are behind Real Madrid and tomorrow if he leaves the club then automatically we will be with the new team.
“Karim’s brother-in-law has a snack bar so we can go and see the match there or we will watch it at the club on the TV all together.”
Benzema has scored 13 goals in his last seven matches and 37 for the season, his best-ever return.
He has never even made the top three Ballon d’Or nominees but at least this year he will be at the World Cup. The lost years with France following the Mathieu Valbuena sex tape blackmail scandal have stained his career.
It seems he is finally escaping the ghosts of his past, having scored nine times since returning to the fold ahead of Euro 2020.
Although the fiercely loyal citizens of Bron-Terraillon will never forget his axing.
Rigolet said: “We could not imagine the French team not taking him.
“When Karim was not in the national team, people in Bron didn’t watch France play. They didn’t care about it.
“When he came back in we didn’t speak about it, he didn’t want to speak about it so we just called him and congratulated him.
“He was happy to go back but he said, ‘I have no problem with Didier Deschamps or the selection’.
“No one understood why he couldn’t play with the French team. It is outside football, it’s nothing to do with the sport.
“That’s why his family don’t speak to journalists any more.”
At the end of the season Benzema will hopefully lift his fourth LaLiga trophy before jetting back to Bron in his private jet.
But he is still the same quiet kid from the streets who let his feet do the talking.
Rigolet added: “He comes back discreetly and does what he has to do. Sometimes he gives us boots and asks us to give them to people who need them or signs some shirts.
“When he has free time you can be sure he will come back to Bron to see his mother and family and spend time with us.
“All the kids want to be him, he is their hero.”