"Sweet dreams are made of this," insisted Annie Lennox in the Eurthymics' hit in 1983. And, to riff on the next line from the song, who are we to disagree? Especially after French football champion Karim Benzema won the 2022 Ballon d’Or.
As a wannabe wonder boy in the Bron district of Lyon, Benzema outlined a trinity of dreams.
A new house for his mother; to play for Real Madrid and to win the Ballon d’Or - world football’s most esteemed individual honour.
A swanky pad for maman was acquired long ago. Real Madrid? Been performing there since 2009. But the other aspiration was only realised this week.
The 34-year-old Frenchman became on Monday night the oldest winner of the Ballon d'Or since a 41-year-old Stanley Matthews claimed the inaugural trophy in 1956.
Murky stories
Nine years later, as his career was reaching its final stages, Matthews received a knighthood. But then, Stan, from what can be gleaned from those grainy newsreel reports and those yeoman performers of yore, was always a gentleman.
Fast forward more than six decades and Benzema can hardly be described in the same fashion.
He has been involved in a couple of murky stories with teammates - one over allegedly having sex with under age girls - he was cleared of that. But more damaging though was his involvement in a plot to blackmail his former France teammate Mathieu Valbuena.
Last November, Benzema was given a 12-month suspended sentence and fined 75,000 euros for his part in the scam. The court ruled that Benzema had implicated himself personally through subterfuge and lies to convince Valbuena to follow the blackmailers’ orders.
Judges said he had shown no kindness towards Valbuena and had even appeared to take pleasure in the then Lyon star’s misfortune.
Prowess
But the Ballon d’Or has never been handed out for off-field actions. It’s about prowess between two goalmouths.
And during 2022, Benzema has simply been hors pair. He scored 44 times in 46 games for Madrid as they set more standards.
They claimed a record-extending 35th La Liga title - his fourth with Les Merengue - as they are nicknamed - and a record-extending 14th victory in European football’s most prestigious club competition.
Madrid beat Liverpool at the Stade de France last May to claim an eighth Champions League trophy.
Under its old incarnation as the European Cup between 1956 and 1992, Madrid won a record six titles.
Benzema was wondrousness incarnate during Madrid’s latest surge to glory in 2022.
He scored 15 goals in 12 games including hat tricks against Paris Saint-Germain in the last-16 as well as against Chelsea in the first leg of the last eight. There were more goals against Manchester City in the semi-final.
When as skipper he lifted the trophy at the Stade de France, it was his fifth win in the competition.
A dozen or so kilometres down the road from that point of triumph, Benzema was presented with the Ballon d’Or by Zinedine Zidane - one of his childhood heroes and the last Frenchman to win the honour in 1998.
Algerian connections
Like Zidane, Benzema’s bloodline flows out of Algeria. But while Zidane’s family settled in Marseille, Benzema’s veered off inland to the south-eastern city of Lyon.
And the latest entrant into a pantheon that includes the likes of George Best, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten, dedicated his trophy to those who had supported him along what has been a compelling trajectory.
"This is the people's Ballon d'Or," Benzema said.
Soon after receiving the prize at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, Benzema was on a plane back to Madrid to prepare for the La Liga match at Elche.
Naturally he was on the scoresheet on Wednesday night as his side won 3-0 to extend their lead over Barcelona to six points.
On Sunday, Benzema will be able to parade his bauble to the faithful at the Santiago Bernabeu when Madrid entertain mid table Sevilla.
World Cup challenge
Next month, he will be one of France’s key strikers as they attempt to become the first team to win consecutive World Cups since Brazil in 1958 and 1962.
He and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappé will spearhead the hopes of a nation in Qatar from 20 November.
Of course, the dynamic duo could have been fine-tuning their partnership in Madrid had Mbappé taken up the chance to join Les Merengue last summer.
However, he decided to remain in the French capital with a chunky new contract and vows to propel PSG to their first Champions League trophy.
While Benzema can brag about five of those, Mbappé at least can unfurl his World Cup winners medal and the accolade of scoring a goal in the 4-2 win over Croatia in the final in Moscow.
That peak came while Benzema was excluded from the France team due to the Valbuena blackmail case.
Redemption
Benzema was eventually restored to the France fold just before the European championships in July 2021 and was part of the squad that claimed the 2021 Nations League - his first senior honour with France.
"The lost five years hurt," Benzema admitted on Monday night.
"I have been through difficult moments, where I wasn't playing for the national team and so was alone at the training ground because everyone else was away playing for their countries.
"I am very happy and very proud of the work I have put in."
A long list of current stars and former players sent their congratulations on social media. Even the French president Emmanuel Macron added his eulogies.
Following a first tweet simply saying "KB9!" - Benzema's social media call sign - Macron added a second.
Deux lettres et un chiffre qui resteront dans l'Histoire du football. 24 ans après Zidane, Karim @Benzema ramène un nouveau Ballon d'or à la France. Félicitations à lui ! https://t.co/Y8bCJTfLVm
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 17, 2022
Go down in history
"Two letters and a number that will go down in football history. 24 years after Zidane, Karim Benzema brings a new Ballon d'Or to France. Congratulations to him!"
Receiving compliments from the president is one thing. From your idol is another. And Zidane, who was Benzema's boss at Madrid between 2016 and 2021, waxed lyrical in the French sports newspaper L'Equipe.
"Despite the criticism and the pressure, which is enormous in a club like Madrid, he never gave up, which is really strong. Today his record and statistics speak for him.
"I kept telling him that if he didn't give up, he would eventually get it. He deserves the Ballon d'Or, and this win means a lot to me, I'm really happy for him."
In previous years, the Ballon d'Or voting panel had a point. The judges had to decide between Lionel Messi's pyrotechnics at Barcelona or Cristiano Ronaldo's uberexploits at Real Madrid.
But with those two winding down at PSG and Manchester United respectively, the 2022 prizewinner has been obvious for a good part of the year even before the award of the Uefa Player of the Year.
"If you don't appreciate Karim Benzema, you don't understand football," said Zidane after handing over the Ballon d'Or.
No-one's arguing.
