KARIM BENZEMA: "When I won everything with the club, I knew it was time to say ‘that’s it’. I didn’t go to Paris or City, because I could never have faced Real Madrid."
"I think I experienced everything in Madrid. I arrived as a kid full of dreams, and I left as a fully grown man, with titles, a Ballon d’Or and the dreams I once had as a child already fulfilled. I felt I had reached that point where you ask yourself whether staying means remaining at the top, at the very highest level, as captain of the best team in the world. Because you never know what the next year will be like… and sometimes, it’s better to close the cycle at the very top."
"Deep down, there was always a little fear. Fear of not performing at the same level, of the Bernabéu making you feel it. That stadium, as demanding as it is magical, can applaud you or make you notice when you’re not at your best. I had already experienced something similar at Lyon, and I didn’t want my story in Madrid to end that way. At first it was very hard, it wasn’t easy to earn a place or the affection. But I never gave up, I never stopped fighting."
"And I also want to thank Florentino Pérez. He was always there for me, supporting me, even when everything got uphill. When I won everything with the club, I knew it was time to say ‘that’s it’. I didn’t go to Paris or City, because I could never have faced Real Madrid. For me, this club is not just the biggest… it is the only one I owe everything to."