Higuain: “I scored 26 goals and Real Madrid signed Kaka and Benzema”

Former Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain, who is now playing for Inter Miami, talked in an interview for ESPN and explained how it was to play for Los Blancos during the first few years of his career as a professional.

“In principle, I wasn’t going to sign for Real Madrid’s first team, they bought me but I was going to play for Castilla. When I got there, I trained with the first team and ]then coach] Fabio Capello told me that I was going to stay with them. I made my debut with the first team around three or four days later and ended up playing some games on the right wing,” explained Higuain.

The Argentinian attacker explained the kind of “rivalry” he had with Karim Benzema for the starting spot.

“It was a very healthy battle for the spot, but we had to give our best. I scored 26 goals and then the next window they signed Kaka and Benzema, then I wondered how many goals I needed to score! Karim came and he made me a better player and I made him a better player as well. He’s a tremendous number 9,” added the attacker.

Real Madrid ended up choosing to keep Benzema in the summer of 2013 while selling Higuain to Napoli. The attacker proved his worth and continued to be a threat in the Serie A, but Benzema also became a club legend in Madrid and a crucial player in the team which succeeded in the Champions League for many years.