Open Thread: October 15, 2021

The Open Thread/Daily Merengue is a place where you can discuss anything and everything related to football. Feel free to discuss the topics presented here, or start your very own discussions! The Open thread will be posted every day by one of the mods: Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, YoSnail, Ezek Ix or NeRObutBlanco.

Ronaldo Nazário backs Karim Benzema for the Ballon d’Or

As Jose Felix Diaz argues, Benz checks all the right boxes:

Karim Benzema meets all of the Ballon d’Ors criteria: individual and collective awards, records and victories. The criteria also includes the career of the player and the club believe the Ballon d’Or would represent the legendary career of the Frenchman.

Karim himself admits to having high ambitions about the award for a long time, but remains humble about role his teammates would have played in bringing him there:

It’s a trophy that all the players want. Ever since I was little, I have been thinking about winning that award. If I am in anyway close, then it is because of my teammates.

This Haaland guy

He would be beloved at Real Madrid, and he brings that joy of playing around on the practice grounds.

However, the big hurdle for Real Madrid to get past is Manchester City.

This week Miguel Gutierrez and Antonio Blanco debuted for Spain’s U21 team

The signings of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric were some of the best business in Real Madrid history