On January 13, 2019, cameras caught Karim Benzema's twisted little finger in enormous pain: the striker broke it during a collision.
The collision was with Marc Bartra, early on in the second half as Real Madrid faced Betis. Benzema lost his balance as a result and twisted his finger when he landed on it. He went off, to be replaced by the 21-year-old Cristo Gonzalez.
After Benzema got up, he saw that his little finger remained in an unnatural position.
The whole situation is water under the bridge now, more than 2 years have passed since the incident. The young Gonzalez joined Udinese, then Mirandes on loan, and then Huesca - where he scored 6 goals in 27 games.
But some things haven't changed: Benzema still plays with a bandaged hand, with bandage covering his little finger entirely - complete with a brace to keep the finger static in case of a shock.
After more than 2 years though, why does Benzema still need the bandage? Is he still recovering? Is he doing it to attract publicity? Or is it a good luck charm, like Cristiano Ronaldo's blonde hair?
What you need to know is that surgery was offered to Karim as a solution straight away. However, Benzema's manager at the time, Santiago Solari, wouldn't hear anything about it: "As you well know, Benzema has a hand injury but says it's not a problem and won't keep him out of the game this weekend or next Wednesday," Solari said a day before his team defeated Sevilla 2-0, Benzema getting on the scoresheet.
Benzema declines the offer to have surgery, such is his importance and devotion to the club - as an operation would keep him out for a minimum of 2 weeks. He suffers for 4 straight days after breaking his finger. A strong and also questionable decision which nonetheless bears fruit for the team.
Straight after his goal vs Sevilla, Benzema nets a brace vs Espanyol, while completing the full 90. The most astonishing thing is that Karim's importance for the club gets to another level soon after.
He ends up on 21 goals and 6 assists in the league that season and is widely considered one of the best strikers in the world, Benzema's importance is all-encompassing after Ronaldo leaves. The bandage effect?
Benzema consults a specialist in the US in 2019 on several occasions, but the doctor can't find another solution to Karim's bones growing askew - other than surgery. So Benzema continues to use the bandage in every game, few pay attention to it and it becomes simply a bad memory, until December 2019.
A photo of Benzema with Barcelona's player puts his little finger back on the agenda. On this photo we can clearly see that his finger is still in a miserable state.
The swelling is there for everyone to see and it raises questions as to whether Benzema's and the club's joint decision was the right one. Should he have gone ahead with the surgery after all?
The injury did not hamper the striker, though. Since the 2018-19 season Benzema has made 125 appearances, scoring 72 goals and adding 26 assists on top.
The only place where the injured hand might harm the striker is off the pitch, in his personal life. He does need to consider doing something with his finger though...
