It is fair to say that Karim Benzema is currently experiencing one of the truly great football renaissances of all time for Real Madrid.
Benzema scored his 38th goal of the season to break Chelsea hearts at the Bernabeu after having bagged a hat-trick in the first leg.
However, Benzema is not the only player to have peaked in their 30s. There are, in fact, a lot of good fine examples.
Antonio Di Natale
Where on earth was Antonio Di Natale hiding for most of his career?
In fact, if there is one archetypal ‘peaked late player’ then there is a very good case to be made for it being the Udinese legend.
Di Natale was always decent and he scored semi-regularly in Serie A in his 20s. No one thought he’d reach the level he eventually did, though.
From the ages of 32 to 37 his season goal returns were 29, 28, 29, 26 and 20. Before his 30th birthday, the closest he got to 20 goals in a season was the 18 he managed when playing in Serie B for Empoli.
Karim Benzema
Look, Karim Benzema has always been brilliant. Let’s establish that right away. What he is doing right now is no fluke.
You don’t play 600 games for Real Madrid unless you’re special, but the thing with Benzema is that he always looked like he was a member of the supporting cast. He had players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and other Galacticos around him, so of course he was going to score goals.
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