Karim Benzema made a young mascot’s day after shaking his hand in the tunnel at Stamford Bridge.
The Real Madrid forward was taking his place ahead of the Champions League victory over Chelsea when he shook hands with a number of players and mascots.
Benzema gave the mascot a moment he’ll never forget
Benzema was in good spirits before the clash in west London
After greeting France teammate N’Golo Kante, the 35-year-old shook hands with an unseen mascot, before greeting a young lad who was stood next to Blues defender Thiago Silva.
Approaching the youngster, Benzema reached out and shook the hand of the youngster who looked visibly delighted at meeting one of football’s biggest stars.
This came after footage emerged of a young supporter meeting Arsenal’s players, only to seemingly be blanked by each star as they signed her shirt with no acknowledgement.
Gunners fan Laura Woods admitted that it wasn’t a good look for the club, but stated that the experience had by the mascot will have been spread over the day to mean that she would have got to speak to the players at a different point of the day.
However Ally McCoist wasn’t as sympathetic, saying: “I thought it was shocking, I’ve been saying for a while now the gap between a footballer and the fan is bigger than it’s ever been.
“That was agony watching that, I was watching it thinking someone must give her a pat on the head or something, but nothing.”
Source: Arsenal TW
For Benzema, there’s no doubting that he knew exactly what he needed to make the young mascot smile at Stamford Bridge.
The French striker was making a club-record 131st appearance in the Champions League but still found time to make the day of the young supporter who will remember the meeting for a long time.
While Benzema endured a quiet night, Real Madrid ran out 2-0 winners on the night, a result that saw them through to the semi-finals of the Champions League with a 4-0 aggregate win.
Source: talksport.com
