02/03/2026
Karim Benzema: “One day I got home and Florentino Pérez was there, sitting with my parents and talking like it was nothing. He went all the way to my house to sign me. I was in shock… I just said yes without thinking.”
“I will never forget that day in Lyon. I was at home when my agent called me and said: ‘Come right now, someone wants to see you.’ I didn’t want to go, I kept saying I didn’t have time… until he told me the name: Florentino Pérez. I thought, ‘No way… Florentino? The man who brought Ronaldo, Zidane?’ I arrived and there he was, sitting with my parents, calm, like it was the most normal thing in the world. I was in shock, unable to say a word. I just stared and kept thinking about Real Madrid.”
“Florentino spoke to me in French, explained why he wanted me to come to Madrid, and I said yes without hesitation. It all happened so fast… and that’s how Karim Benzema, the Real Madrid player, was born. That’s why I always say I can’t say no to Florentino: he was with me through the good times and the tough ones, always the same. That call changed everything, and thanks to him a whole new life for me in Madrid began.”
