Perhaps there's something in the notion of a lucky Shamrock. Thirteen years on from making his Real Madrid debut in a friendly against Shamrock Rovers, Karim Benzema is the world player of the year, a richly deserving winner of the Ballon d'Or.
It was Cristiano Ronaldo who topped the bill at a jam-packed Tallaght Stadium in July 2009, having joined Madrid from Manchester United, but substitute Benzema was the matchwinner that night, a late goal delivering a 1-0 victory for Los Blancos.
He kept winning, and winning some more, even when others took the spotlight, but the winning has been almost unrelenting. And that has been the theme of his career.
Benzema had won four Ligue 1 titles with Lyon before, at the age of just 21, he earned himself a move to Madrid, where he has won five Champions League titles, four LaLiga crowns, four FIFA Club World Cups, four European Super Cups, four Spanish Supercopas, and two Copa del Rey winner's medals.
Now 34-year-old Benzema is harvesting the personal acclaim, having long played the patient consort to the garlanded Ronaldo and, even, Gareth Bale.
As he ascends to this particular throne, Stats Perform has looked at how Benzema reached such a high point, and what the Ballon d'Or result means in wider terms.
Brilliant Benz merks his rivals
This time it had to be him. The Karim of the crop. Last year, it was hard to distinguish what was more embarrassing: the constant campaigning for Benzema to take the Ballon d'Or by Real Madrid luminaries past and present, or the fact Lionel Messi took the prize again, ahead of Robert Lewandowski.
Messi's seventh Ballon d'Or felt like a long-service award. Benzema's triumph is both that, and a reflection of the greatest season of his career.
The Ballon d'Or rules shifted this year, with the time span set from August 1, 2021, to July 31, 2022, rather than the calendar year.
In that time, Benzema, more often than not as captain, hit 44 goals in 46 games, with his shot conversion rate at a career high of 24.18 per cent.
He scored 27 of those goals in 32 LaLiga games to earn his first Pichichi – the award that goes to the league's leading scorer – and in doing so led Madrid to the title.
Messi won the Pichichi eight times, while Ronaldo took it on three occasions, with Luis Suarez (2015-16) the only other player to lay his hands on the trophy in the seasons from 2009-10 to 2020-21.
Benzema's league goals came at a rate of one every 96.15 minutes, which he has bettered only once in Spain (2015-16: 24 goals in 27 games, one goal every 83.04 minutes). Significantly, he was a provider in the league too, weighing in with a career-best 12 assists.
His 15 Champions League goals in Madrid's glorious campaign came from 12 games, at one goal every 73.73 minutes. He vastly surpassed his expected goals tally of 8.2, the metric that reflects the quality of a player's chances and likelihood of scoring.
He has made a career of exceeding expectations. When he made a €35million switch from Lyon all those years ago, not even Benzema could have imagined he would be peaking in his mid-thirties.
Benzema also drew level with Raul's haul of 323 goals for Madrid last season, going joint-second on the club's all-time list, behind only Ronaldo (450).
Second place has since become Benzema's outright, with the goals still coming. He probably won't catch Ronaldo, but he might not be far behind.
No longer a young man's game?
With Benzema landing the award just two months before he turns 35, it is another example of the younger generation not yet doing enough to challenge the old guard.
The last player aged under 30 to win the Ballon d'Or was Messi, who took the 2015 award.
Kylian Mbappe might have been a reasonable shout this time around, if Paris Saint-Germain had not perished against Madrid and Benzema in last season's Champions League, but the other serious challengers were on the top side of 30: the likes of Lewandowski, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
Next year is likely to be a different story, with Mbappe and Manchester City's Erling Haaland surely pushing for the trophy. The World Cup could also be impactful on the 2022-23 vote, and Qatar 2022 might yet bring Benzema more glory with France.
End of an era as the GOATs go out to pasture
This year's 1-2-3 was conspicuously lacking in GOATs. Neither Messi nor Ronaldo made the podium, which is the first time that has occurred in Ballon d'Or voting since the 2006 awards.
In fact, there have been 11 occasions when both have been in the top three, such has been their preeminence.
Messi has had 13 podium finishes and seven wins, just edging Ronaldo's 12 podiums and five awards.
Four of Ronaldo's awards came while a team-mate of Benzema at Madrid. While the Portugal great made the shortlist this time around, finishing 20th, Messi did not, and it might be a stretch to expect either man to threaten a top-three result again.
Dewsbury-Hall: Maresca will surprise people at Chelsea
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall believes new Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca will "surprise a lot of people" when they watch the Blues this season.
The Italian led Leicester City straight back to the Premier League as Championship winners in his only season in charge and succeeds Mauricio Pochettino at Stamford Bridge.
The Foxes topped the second division table with 98 points, with Dewsbury-Hall a key figure in his squad as he netted 12 goals and provided 14 assists last season – his best tally in a single campaign.
Dewsbury-Hall was also named Leicester's Player and Players' Player of the Year.
The midfielder made the switch to West London earlier this month for £30million and is confident that Maresca will have Chelsea challenging for trophies in no time.
"The manager was a big catalyst in wanting me to come," Dewsbury-Hall told BBC Sport.
"I knew from Leicester, a club that went down and had a lot of problems, how he managed to galvanise that if everyone manages to buy into the system.
"I genuinely think in a short space of time we can be pushing for minimum top four - but more than that.
"He may be unknown for a lot of people, but he is top, top level. He will surprise a lot of people."
Chelsea's pre-season got off to a frustrating start as they were held to a 2-2 draw by League One side Wrexham in Maresca's first game in charge on Wednesday.
Dewsbury-Hall did not play in that match but is training with the squad in the United States and could feature in their next outing against Celtic on Saturday.
The 25-year-old is confident the manager's tactics will come across soon, with the players buying into his style.
"We've only been doing it for two or three weeks, but the combination plays are really quick and tidy," he added.
"That's after two weeks. I remember he said to us at Leicester after six months or a year, there might be teething problems at the start, but it will improve.
"Within the first week at Leicester, I was convinced this was top, top level. I felt a bit stupid; I thought I knew a lot about football, but he was teaching me things on a daily basis that I didn't really know before. He has an aura, he can be strict, or gentle and soft - he has both sides.
"I am getting the same feedback here with the lads. They've bought into it here from minute one which is exciting. With a system and philosophy, you need everyone to buy in because, if they do, you can really achieve something."
“The favourite is Thompson”-Boldon highlights Jamaican champion as man to beat in 100m in Paris
Trinidadian four-time Olympic medallist Ato Boldon has named Jamaican sprinting sensation Kishane Thompson as his favourite to take 100m gold at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Thompson, 23, is currently the world leader in the event after running a personal best 9.77 to win the 100m title at the JAAA/Puma National Senior Championships at the National Stadium in Kingston in June.
The MVP Track Club-trained sprinter also produced times of 9.82 and 9.84 in the heats and semi-finals, respectively, at those national championships and, most recently, ran 9.91 shutting down to win at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Hungary on July 9.
“Thompson is the favourite,” Boldon said in an interview with LetsRundotcom on YouTube on Friday.
“I know Noah (Lyles) is the World champion. I think Noah made it a little bit more interesting by running that 9.81 into a headwind which kind of almost converts to a 9.77 but there’s no way you can look at the way in which Thompson ran that 9.77 and just go ‘Oh Noah will beat him.’ Noah has his hands full with that guy,” Boldon said.
Blazing speed acknowledged, one thing that Thompson lacks that his other competitors don’t is experience competing at the highest level of the sport with this being his first time representing Jamaica at any level.
If there is anything to prevent Thompson from delivering on the form that he’s shown so far this season, Boldon believes that would be this lack of experience on a stage like the Olympic Games compared to his peers.
“There are things which I see people completely ignoring. Kishane Thompson has not been under the microscope of Olympic favourite. Rounds are a great equalizer. Noah has the medals that he does because of how well he runs rounds. Is Noah suddenly a lock for the silver? No but he does have his hands full,” he said.
“There are others who are going to be in the 100m that are used to the pressure and pressure is a big thing. If he’s able to pull this off, you write books about stuff like that,” he added.
Thompson's quest for Olympic glory will begin in the heats of the men's 100m beginning on Saturday' August 3.
Ederson slams reports of rift with Man City backup Ortega
Ederson has hit out at reports of a rift between himself and fellow Manchester City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
The Brazilian was substituted after suffering a fractured eye socket in City's penultimate game of the Premier League season, a vital 1-0 win over Tottenham.
Ortega replaced him and made a brilliant save to deny Son Heung-min as City maintained their slender lead over Arsenal at the top of the table, sealing an unprecedented fourth straight title by beating West Ham five days later.
Ortega was widely lauded for his role in that triumph, and an article published by The Athletic this week suggested Ederson took issue with that praise.
However, the goalkeeper – who missed the Copa America as a result of his injury – has now moved to shut down those suggestions with a post to his Instagram story.
"I would like to clarify that the note published by The Athletic yesterday, referring to my alleged dissatisfaction with a co-worker, is completely false," he wrote.
"The alleged day reported was, without a doubt, one of the most difficult days of my career, when I suffered a fracture that prevented me from playing in the final stretch of the season and, consequently, from representing my country in the Copa America.
"At the time of the injury, my only thought was to continue in the match, defending City in the fight for the title.
"But the emotion of the match would be greater than the reality and, inevitably, I would not be able to continue as I would have liked due to the damage it caused, completely blocking my field of vision. I remain focused on preparing for the season."
Ederson has been linked with a transfer in recent days, reportedly attracting interest from Saudi Pro League clubs.
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