Real Madrid and Getafe CF are set to take each other on in one of the most interesting Madrid derbies of the year. Real Madrid will play one of their last few home games of the season and are inching ever closer to clinching the LaLiga Santander title, while Getafe CF remain in the lower reaches of the table fighting to escape relegation. The two capital city sides will meet this matchday in a clash that features two of the competition’s most productive strikers in Karim Benzema and Enes Ünal.
Benzema and Ünal are the top scorers in LaLiga Santander, with 24 goals for the French forward and 14 for the Turkish striker, who is on the same number as Raúl de Tomás, Juanmi and Vinícius. Both help their respective teams with their goals and they do so with two different styles: Benzema’s is more associative; Ünal’s is more defensive as he also helps with pressing. This is demonstrated by the number of fouls committed by both: while the Madridista has only made 13 fouls, the Azulón has already committed 59 so far this season. They have two different styles, but they’re both very effective in front of goal.
Benzema is on course to claim his first Pichichi award, for the season’s top scorer, in his 13th season at his current club. His 24 league goals so far match his highest scoring tally since he joined Real Madrid, equalling that of the 2015/16 season. Although the goal tallies over the rest of his seasons haven’t been bad at all, sharing a team with Cristiano Ronaldo meant that his job was often more about supplying the Portuguese than scoring himself, even if he still did that with aplomb.
Ünal, meanwhile, arrived in Spain in the 2017/18 season when he joined Villarreal CF from Manchester City. Since then, he has worn the shirts of Levante UD, Real Valladolid and Getafe FC. It is at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez where he has achieved his best scoring figures since playing in Spain. Until this season, his scoring record in a LaLiga Santander season was six goals, a number he has already doubled this campaign with Getafe FC.
Both strikers already know what it’s like to score against the team they’ll face this Saturday. Ünal netted the only goal of the game as Getafe FC defeated Real Madrid in the first meeting of this season, at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez. Benzema, meanwhile, has scored nine goals against the team from the south of Madrid since arriving in LaLiga Santander.
These are strikers with different styles and from two different generations: Benzema is a veteran who has already turned 34 years of age; Unal is about to turn 25 and has a bright future ahead of him in LaLiga Santander. Despite their differences, goals are assured when these two players are on the pitch.