Karim Benzema becomes the fourth-highest scorer in El Clasico: Stats
What's the story
Karim Benzema scored a sensational hat-trick against Barcelona to send Real Madrid through to the final of the Copa del Rey 2022-23 season.
Real Madrid tamed Barcelona 4-0 in their Copa del Rey semi-finals second-leg tie at Camp Nou, winning 4-1 on aggregate.
Notably, Benzema has now become the 4th-highest scorer in El Clasico, besides smashing a host of records.
Benzema
Real ride on Benzema's heroics
Thibaut Courtois stopped Robert Lewandowski's effort before Real broke quickly as Vinicius Jr squeezed his effort into the bottom corner.
Five minutes after the break, Luka Modric drove forward and his ball for Benzema resulted in a goal.
Franck Kessie brought Vinicius down in the box and Benzema scored from the spot.
He scored his third with 10 minutes remaining after a Madrid counter.
Information
Benzema surpasses Raul's tally in El Clasico
Benzema has raced to 16 El Clasico goals, seeing him surpass former Madrid ace Raul (15). Benzema is now only behind the likes of Lionel Messi (26), Alfredo Di Stefano (18), and Cristiano Ronaldo (16) in terms of El Clasico goals.
Records
Benzema smashes these El Clasico records
As per Opta, after 43 El Clasico appearances in all competitions, Benzema has scored his first hat-trick against Barcelona.
Benzema is now the first Real Madrid player to score a hat-trick in El Clasico against Barca since Ivan Zamorano in 1995.
Benzema also became the first Real Madrid player to score a hat-trick against Barcelona at Camp Nou since Ferenc Puskas in 1965.
Numbers
25 goals for Benzema in the 2022-23 season
After scoring his maiden first-half hat-trick against Valladolid on matchday 27 in La Liga, Benzema followed it up with an assist and another hat-trick in this El Clasico tie in the Copa del Rey.
He has raced to 25 goals and 4 assists for Real this season. Overall, Benzema has 348 career goals for Real, having played 636 games.
Do you know?
Top scorer for Real in Copa del Rey
Benzema has now become the top scorer for Real in the Copa del Rey (25), playing his 48th match in the competition. He has steered clear of Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 22 goals in 30 games.
News
More stunning numbers for Benzema
Benzema (22) has the most number of goals + assists in the Top 5 European Leagues from the start of 2023.
Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford is the only other player with 20-plus involvements (20).
Benzema has scored 25-plus goals in a season for the fifth successive season.
Benzema has been involved in seven goals (G5 A2) in his last six El Clasicos.