Perhaps there's something in the notion of a lucky Shamrock. Thirteen years on from making his Real Madrid debut in a friendly against Shamrock Rovers, Karim Benzema is the world player of the year, a richly deserving winner of the Ballon d'Or.
It was Cristiano Ronaldo who topped the bill at a jam-packed Tallaght Stadium in July 2009, having joined Madrid from Manchester United, but substitute Benzema was the matchwinner that night, a late goal delivering a 1-0 victory for Los Blancos.
He kept winning, and winning some more, even when others took the spotlight, but the winning has been almost unrelenting. And that has been the theme of his career.
Benzema had won four Ligue 1 titles with Lyon before, at the age of just 21, he earned himself a move to Madrid, where he has won five Champions League titles, four LaLiga crowns, four FIFA Club World Cups, four European Super Cups, four Spanish Supercopas, and two Copa del Rey winner's medals.
Now 34-year-old Benzema is harvesting the personal acclaim, having long played the patient consort to the garlanded Ronaldo and, even, Gareth Bale.
As he ascends to this particular throne, Stats Perform has looked at how Benzema reached such a high point, and what the Ballon d'Or result means in wider terms.
Brilliant Benz merks his rivals
This time it had to be him. The Karim of the crop. Last year, it was hard to distinguish what was more embarrassing: the constant campaigning for Benzema to take the Ballon d'Or by Real Madrid luminaries past and present, or the fact Lionel Messi took the prize again, ahead of Robert Lewandowski.
Messi's seventh Ballon d'Or felt like a long-service award. Benzema's triumph is both that, and a reflection of the greatest season of his career.
The Ballon d'Or rules shifted this year, with the time span set from August 1, 2021, to July 31, 2022, rather than the calendar year.
In that time, Benzema, more often than not as captain, hit 44 goals in 46 games, with his shot conversion rate at a career high of 24.18 per cent.
He scored 27 of those goals in 32 LaLiga games to earn his first Pichichi – the award that goes to the league's leading scorer – and in doing so led Madrid to the title.
Messi won the Pichichi eight times, while Ronaldo took it on three occasions, with Luis Suarez (2015-16) the only other player to lay his hands on the trophy in the seasons from 2009-10 to 2020-21.
Benzema's league goals came at a rate of one every 96.15 minutes, which he has bettered only once in Spain (2015-16: 24 goals in 27 games, one goal every 83.04 minutes). Significantly, he was a provider in the league too, weighing in with a career-best 12 assists.
His 15 Champions League goals in Madrid's glorious campaign came from 12 games, at one goal every 73.73 minutes. He vastly surpassed his expected goals tally of 8.2, the metric that reflects the quality of a player's chances and likelihood of scoring.
He has made a career of exceeding expectations. When he made a €35million switch from Lyon all those years ago, not even Benzema could have imagined he would be peaking in his mid-thirties.
Benzema also drew level with Raul's haul of 323 goals for Madrid last season, going joint-second on the club's all-time list, behind only Ronaldo (450).
Second place has since become Benzema's outright, with the goals still coming. He probably won't catch Ronaldo, but he might not be far behind.
No longer a young man's game?
With Benzema landing the award just two months before he turns 35, it is another example of the younger generation not yet doing enough to challenge the old guard.
The last player aged under 30 to win the Ballon d'Or was Messi, who took the 2015 award.
Kylian Mbappe might have been a reasonable shout this time around, if Paris Saint-Germain had not perished against Madrid and Benzema in last season's Champions League, but the other serious challengers were on the top side of 30: the likes of Lewandowski, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
Next year is likely to be a different story, with Mbappe and Manchester City's Erling Haaland surely pushing for the trophy. The World Cup could also be impactful on the 2022-23 vote, and Qatar 2022 might yet bring Benzema more glory with France.
End of an era as the GOATs go out to pasture
This year's 1-2-3 was conspicuously lacking in GOATs. Neither Messi nor Ronaldo made the podium, which is the first time that has occurred in Ballon d'Or voting since the 2006 awards.
In fact, there have been 11 occasions when both have been in the top three, such has been their preeminence.
Messi has had 13 podium finishes and seven wins, just edging Ronaldo's 12 podiums and five awards.
Four of Ronaldo's awards came while a team-mate of Benzema at Madrid. While the Portugal great made the shortlist this time around, finishing 20th, Messi did not, and it might be a stretch to expect either man to threaten a top-three result again.
Reggae Boyz seal Nations League quarterfinal berth with goalless stalemate against Honduras
Jamaica’s senior Reggae Boyz closed out their Group B Concacaf Nations League campaign with a goalless stalemate against Honduras at the National Stadium on Monday night.
While their performance wasn’t the most impressive in terms of flair or attacking threat, the Jamaicans did enough to finish atop the League A group on eight points to secure a quarterfinals berth.
Honduras, who placed second on seven points, also advanced to the next stage of the competition. Nicaragua (seven points), Trinidad and Tobago (five points), Cuba (three points), and French Guiana (one point) complete the group.
Jamaica and Honduras now join Concacaf’s top-ranked teams, United States, Panama, Mexico, and Canada, in the knockout round, with the top two finishers in Group A—to be decided on Tuesday—set to meet them there.
The Jamaicans entered the game aiming to build on their 2-0 win over Nicaragua just days earlier, but found themselves stifled in the final third, particularly in the first half.
In fact, it was a slow start by both teams, as they took some time to settle into their respective game plans to prove an attacking threat in open play. The Reggae Boyz moreso displayed patience in an attempt to efficiently execute the possession-based style play desired by Head coach Steve McClaren.
However, while they tried to work out how to break down Honduras' low block tactics in midfield, the visitors launched a few good counterattacks from which they should have piled misery on the Boyz, but for a lack of quality in the final third.
Honduras had eight shots at goal in the first half, compared to Jamaica’s solitary effort, which came in the 33rd when an unmarked Ethan Pinnock fired wide from Demarai Gray's corner kick.
Prior to that, Honduras' first warning shot came in the seventh minute from Edwin Rodriguez, whose right-footer from a distance was easily palmed down by Andre Blake.
Three minutes later, a short pass by Mason Holgate was picked up by Honduras and almost proved costly. Luckily for the Boyz, Joel Latibeaudiere recovered well to avert the danger.
Though they bossed possession, the Reggae Boyz struggled to convert their dominance into clear-cut scoring opportunities, leaving fans at the National Stadium craving more attacking dynamism.
This, as Honduras continued to show more purpose in the attacking third and kept Blake busy, as Jorge Alvarez's 21st-minute shot from the top of the 18-yard box went straight at the Philadelphia Union goaltender.
In the 32nd, Holgate again gave up possession to Antony Lozano, who went on the break, but the Honduran, sporting the number nine jersey and the captain's armband, muffed his effort and gave the Jamaicans a reprieve.
Lozano went on another break in the 38th, but again lacked composure where it mattered most as he slammed a rushed right-footer into the sidenetting.
The Jamaicans were more spirited on the resumption, especially with the introduction of Renaldo Cephas and Kaheim Dixon. Both fleet-footed attackers combined well at times with Michail Antonio and Gray, but their hunt for the go-head goal proved fruitless.
Dixon went close in the 69th when he drove a right-footer along the turf, but the effort went just wide of the right upright.
The former Clarendon College and Arnett Gardens stalwart, who now plies his trade at Charlton Athletic, applied pressure in the 79th and went down in a challenge for possession with Honduras' goalkeeper Edrick Menjivar. However, his appeal for a penalty was waved off by American referee Armando Villarreal.
Honduras' best effort of the half came in the 80th when Kervin Arriaga lashed a stinging left-footed drive from about 20 yards out, but it was tipped over by Blake, who produced another steady performance between the posts, to not only keep a clean sheet but, more importantly, demonstrate the calm leadership he's known for.
Koeman fumes after coming up short in 'all facets of football' against Germany
Ronald Koeman believed his Netherlands side fell short in "all facets of football" after they slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Germany in the Nations League on Monday.
Jamie Leweling netted the only goal of the encounter at the Allianz Arena, marking his senior international debut in style to put his nation on the brink of qualification.
The Netherlands struggled during the contest, ending the game with an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.13, with Donyell Malen's 89th minute effort their only attempt on target.
Koeman's side also managed just eight touches in the opposition box compared to Germany's 26, despite edging the possession at the full-time whistle.
"If you go back too far, you bring that on yourself," Koeman said.
"We came up short on all sides, perhaps in all facets of football. We did things differently at half-time and then we got a bit more rest. But they were much better today.
"I am not satisfied by our performance. The Germans were the better, faster and physically stronger. They created more chances.
"We lost too many balls in the midfield. We went too far back. That was not the plan. The plan was to put pressure forward on the right side. But it did not happen."
The result leaves the Netherlands in second in Group A3, level on points with Hungary after Dominik Szoboszlai's double handed them a 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Stand-in captain Stefan de Vrij echoed Koeman's thoughts after the encounter, saying his side deserved to lose against Germany.
"It seems clear to me that it was a deserved defeat," said De Vrij.
"The first half was very mediocre. We were very sloppy and gave away a number of balls just like that, which allowed them to become dangerous.
"In the second half it was a bit better, but it's hard to create chances."
The Lazio defender took the armband in place of Virgil van Dijk, who was suspended following his red card against Hungary.
Though the Netherlands did not do enough in attack, De Vrij said that Van Dijk's absence from the team had an impact.
"Yes, of course you miss him. He's a very important player and he's our captain. And he's a great defender, so it makes sense that he's missed," De Vrij concluded.
Madrid update on Mbappe's recovery after questions over France absence
Kylian Mbappe was pictured by Real Madrid during an individual recovery programme amid growing questions over his France absence.
Madrid released a statement on Monday to update on the forward's recovery from a muscle issue that kept him out of France's October internationals squad.
Questions had persisted from reports in France after Mbappe was spotted in a Swedish nightclub on Thursday, when Didier Deschamps' side hammered Israel.
Deschamps insisted the matter was not an issue to discuss, though speculation remains over Mbappe's commitment to France, with reports suggesting he is prioritising Madrid and a potential Ballon d'Or.
Los Blancos seemingly sought to quash any growing murmurs of discontent by confirming Mbappe's appearance at the club before France's 2-1 win over Belgium in Brussels.
"Kylian Mbappe continues to work on his individual fitness plan," a short club statement read.
"The forward is working on his own as he tries to recover fully from the discomfort in the biceps femoris of his left leg.
"He trained on his own in the gym and out on the pitch at Real Madrid City, under the guidance of Antonio Pintus, who is in charge of the club's physical preparation."
Mbappe subsequently posted a picture on Instagram of him in the Madrid gym, captioned "back to work" as the former Paris Saint-Germain forward continues his recovery.
The 25-year-old was joined by goalkeeping pair Thibaut Courtois and Andriy Lunin before more of Carlo Ancelotti's squad return from international football on Tuesday.
Deschamps' men did not feel Mbappe's absence, however, as Randal Kolo Muani's brace secured the vital victory over Belgium to boost their top-two hopes in the Nations League.
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