By Marco Ruiz
Amongst Mourinho’s many qualities, over and above his coaching and his skill at getting out of tight spots unharmed, is his ability to keep two of the finest striking talents in the world active and fighting for their place at the same time.
Higuaín and Benzema are currently taking turns, as they did last year. And the formula works.
The two goals from the Frenchman against Alcoyano put him on five for the season, against seven for Higuaín (12 for the two of them) who has started one game more and has a very slightly better average per game.
Higuaín vs Benzema, again. “There isn’t a single big European club that doesn’t have two out and out strikers at the highest level”, said Mourinho in his attempts to convince the Argentinean not to leave the club last summer.
The two are rated so equally that it is only the tiniest details that lead to Mou, who prefers to systematically alternate them, choosing one over the other.
An example: the four clear chances that ‘el Pipita’, Higuaín, squandered against Barça in the return leg of the Supercopa gave him a black mark in the eyes of Mourinho.
Just after, Benzema re-emerged with the goal that brought victory in the epic battle against City.
But neither sat back and both have scored respective braces against Mallorca and Alcoyano (where the Frenchman showed a fine attitude at a difficult ground).
They also seem determined to do away with pre-conceived ideas about their skills, such as Benzema being better at linking up – see Higuain’s two assists for Ronaldo in Mallorca, and that the Frenchman can’t perform on the road – he’s been a starter six times away from home and scored four goals, whilst striking only once at the Bernabeu.
That said, Benzema has provided six assists to Higuain’s two…
The current rotation between the two is something new in the history of the club.
Up to and including the 50s there were five strikers playing (Puskas and Di Stéfano shared the majority of the goals), in the 60s Madrid played without a number nine (Grosso) and in the 70s Santillana burst on the scene and was unmoveable until El Buitre arrived (with Hugo).
After that, a string of the biggest names in football: Zamorano, Suker, Morientes, Ronaldo, Van Nistelrooy, together with their substitutes.
Madrid benefits from the fight between Benzema and Higuaín: they both complement Cristiano perfectly, and he’s now scored 18 this season.
