IFFHS STATISTICS - BENZEMA'S NEW RECORD !
Picture : Karim Benzema in the Record book !
Benzema’s 10 playoff goals: UCL record!
Karim Benzema has scored 10 goals in the Champions League playoff stages this season: he equaled Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of the competition set in 2016-17.
In the European Cup era (1955-1991), counting the stages from round of 16 to the final, two other players were so prolific in a single season: Ferenc Puskas (12) and Alfredo Di Stefano (10). All four represented the same club, most successful one: Real Madrid.
Benzema has yet chance to surpass CR7 and maybe to match/beat Puskas if he scores also in the final.
Top ten EC/UCL goal-scorers in the stage of last 16 of a single season – in the table below.
As for Benzema, he has another remarkable achievement: he scored 7 Champions League goals against English teams this season; no one scored as many in a single campaign in the history of competition.
| BEST ONE-SEASON | LAST 16 STAGE | GOAL-SCORERS | |||||||
| CHAMPIONS' LEAGUE | (EUROPEAN CUP) | ||||||||
| Player | Nationality | Club | Season | Goals | R16 | QF | SF | F | |
| 1 | Ferenc Puskás | Spain | Real Madrid | 1959-60 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 2 | Alfredo Di Stéfano | Spain | Real Madrid | 1957-58 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | Real Madrid | 2016-17 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | ||
| Karim Benzema | France | Real Madrid | 2021-22 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | ? | |
| 5 | Miloš Milutinović | Yugoslavia | Partizan | 1955-56 | 8 | 6 | 2 | ||
| Alfredo Di Stéfano | Spain | Real Madrid | 1959-60 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| José Águas | Portugal | Benfica | 1960-61 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| Gerd Müller | Germany | Bayern | 1972-73 | 8 | 7 | 1 | |||
| Lionel Messi | Argentina | Barcelona | 2011-12 | 8 | 6 | 2 | |||
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | Real Madrid | 2013-14 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |