Karim Benzema or Antoine Griezmann? Who is a better player?
Being a striker is not only to net the ball and celebrate but also to set the level high so that it becomes difficult for other players to equalize the level. And defining these lines, we will be talking about some of the most popular and successful strikers of all time in the history of football, Karim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann.
Karim Benzema is a legendary striker and is also Real Madrid’s all-time second-highest goal scorer and top assist provider. Karim Benzema is widely known and appreciated for his finishing and play-making skills but apart from this, he is very creative on the field, skilful, quick, agile, and is regarded as a very strong striker for the team. He was often praised for his tactical intelligence of the ball and was also loved by the fans for his relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid. Benzema is currently playing for Al-Ittihad in the Saudi League.
Antoine Griezmann is a French footballer who plays as a forward for the La Liga club Atlético Madrid and he is a versatile player known for his attacking, passing, and support defence. He has played as an attacking midfielder, winger, and striker in his career this is why he is called one of the most versatile players around the globe. Griezmann was the subject of a record association football transfer when he signed for Barcelona in a transfer worth 120 million euros and this made him the 5th most expensive player of all time in the history of football. He is also the third-highest all-time goal scorer for Atletico Madrid and fifth most-capped player for France.
So, we will be taking a look at the stats, achievements, titles, and personal lives of both players and we will be comparing who is a better player.
1: Personal Stats
Comparing both players based on their overall stats with all the clubs they have played with. As we know both players have been playing for a very long time in the football industry and have played more than 600 matches throughout their careers so it would be easier for us to carry out the comparison based on the total number of matches they have played and the goals they have scored. Lastly, take a look at a detailed overall comparison of players and find out who is a better player in this category.
| Benzema | Griezmann | |
| Games | 801 | 648 |
| Goals | 422 | 245 |
| Assists | 194 | 111 |
As we can see Benzema and Griezmann both have played a lot of matches in their club career. Benzema has played 801 matches and Griezmann has played 648 matches for their respective clubs Not only the amount of matches, but if you look at the performance it is clear that Benzema has a better performance and Griezmann’s goal percentage and the number of assists create a great difference. Being the second top goal scorer for Real Madrid Benzema has an unmatched legacy and it is difficult for any player to beat his records so Benzema turns out to be a clear winner in this category.
2: Titles
When comparing two players it is important to see how much these players have contributed to the team and how many titles they have lifted with the team, so covering this segment we will be looking at the total number of titles that Benzema and Griezmann have won with their team internationally and clubs as well.
| Benzema | Griezmann | |
| Champions League | 5 | 0 |
| La Liga | 4 | 0 |
| Copa Del Rey | 3 | 1 |
| UEFA CWC | 5 | 0 |
| Europa League | 0 | 1 |
| UEFA Supercup | 4 | 1 |
If we take a look at the total number of achievements both the players have it is very easy to decide who is the winner. It’s visible that Benzema is the winner in this category as well because of all the titles that Griezmann has won in his career so far, Benzema has won the same titles multiple times, and that too with better stats as we have already discussed.
3: Individual Honors
Karim Benzema is considered the legendary player of Real Madrid as he is the player who won 25 trophies with Real Madrid if we write the total number of individual honours it would be very difficult to fit the whole data in this article and the list would go on and on so here are some notable achievements that Benzema has in his career so far.
Individual Honours of Karim Benzema:
- Pichichi Trophy (Top scorer in La Liga): 2007–08, 2011–12, 2021–22
- European Golden Shoe: 2021–22
- FIFA FIFPro World11: 2020, 2021
- UEFA Team of the Year: 2020, 2021
- UEFA Best Player in Europe Award: 2022
- Ballon d’Or: 2022
- Bravo Award 2008
- UEFA Champions League squad of the season
- UEFA Champions League team of the season
- UEFA Champions League top assist provider
- Coupe de France Top Scorer
- Esm Team of the Year
- UEFA European Championship bronze boot
- The UEFA Nations League’s final goal of the tournament
Individual Honours of Antoine Griezmann:
- UEFA European Under-19 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2010
- La Liga Best Player: 2015–16
- La Liga Player of the Month: January 2015, April 2015, September 2016, March 2017, February 2018, December 2018
- La Liga Team of the Season: 2014–15
- Onze d’Or: 2014–15
- UEFA La Liga Team of the Season: 2015–16
- UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2015–16, 2016–17
- UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season: 2017–18
- UEFA Europa League Player of the Season: 2017–18
- UEFA European Championship Player of the Tournament: 2016
- UEFA European Championship Golden Boot: 2016
Griezmann has also won many titles with his name as well but some of the notable moments have been mentioned above if we compare the total number of achievements on the individual level of both players Benzema is found to be ahead in individual achievements as well.
4: International Career
In International stats, we will be discussing how many matches the players have played and also how successful their international career has been so far. Karim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann, both of them play for the same country, France. However, Antoine has played more matches than Benzema because he got involved in a controversy and was banned from playing for the national team of France. This resulted in his absence for a very long time and in the meantime, Griezmann played a lot of matches for the nation and performed well.
| Benzema | Griezmann | |
| Games | 97 | 122 |
| Goals | 37 | 43 |
| Assists | 20 | 36 |
The difference in the number of matches played by both players internationally is 25 matches. Antoine played 25 matches more than Benzema but scored only 6 goals more than him. Benzema was ruled out of the national team till managed to net the balls almost close to Griezmann’s score. This shows how the game would have changed if Benzema was not ruled out of the team. However, be it for any reason, we must accept the fact that Antoine is ahead of Benzema when it comes to international stats as he was the part of World Cup winning team in 2018 when France lifted that FIFA World Cup trophy.
5: Personal Life
Benzema is a legendary player and has seen a lot of success in his life. He is considered one of the greatest strikers in the history of football and he was also chosen as the ambassador of the American video game publisher Electronic Arts for the FIFA series. Karim can also be considered a very social personality because he started uploading videos of his personal life on his own YouTube channel and he also does interviews and fan Q&As. Benzema is also a firm believer who constantly shares his views about his religion.
Talking about Griezmann not much about his personal life has been revealed but it is known that he is married to Erica Choperena, and had their first child in April 2016. He also has a sponsorship deal with German sports company Puma and has appeared in many commercials for the company. Just like Karim Benzema, he is also featured in the Electronic Arts FIFA video game series and he appears on the cover of the French edition of FIFA 16. Not much is known about his personal life and he is less on the socializing side.
Karim Benzema Vs Antoine Griezmann? Who is the better player?
We have compared both players on different segments and have deeply researched their achievements and personal lives. It is found that Benzema is clearly the winner of this debate as he was found to be ahead of Griezmann in all categories except the international career because of his absence from playing for France. However, the number of goals assist matches and individual honours that Benzema has achieved in his career so far are way ahead of that of Griezmann so it can be concluded that Benzema is a better player than Griezmann in all aspects.
Karim Benzema’s phenomenal play style and records have built a legacy that is very hard to match by the upcoming young players and many of his eras as well. This makes him one of the greatest players to be ever witnessed in the history of football.