Benzema is feeling isolated Real Madrid Having less impact on the game

Karim Benzema finished last season with 30 goals in all competitions, his second best ever goals tally with Real Madrid.

He was on track to beat this total this term, but of late his numbers have ground to a halt.

The Frenchman scored a penalty against Real Betis in last Sunday's defeat at the Estadio Benito Villamarin, drawing level with Samuel Eto'o as LaLiga Santander's fifth highest goalscorer in history, and he also notched against Atletico Madrid in the derby on February 1.

He has 19 strikes to his name this campaign, and he's second only to Lionel Messi in the league goalscoring standings.

However, the two aforementioned goals are Benzema's only ones in the last 40 days, and there is something behind this.

Chiefly, it's the way Benzema is receiving fewer passes from his teammmates in the area, and as a result how he is having to go looking for the ball further away from goal.

In the last few games, it's been noticeable how his touch map shows him having far more involvement outside the box.

Against Betis, Benzema was as far back as the halfway line on numerous occasions.

Prior to that, against Levante and Celta Vigo, he operated more down the left flank. And against Barcelona he was central, but deeper.

Benzema is drifting into these areas because he feels he is not getting the service he wants.

He's been used to working closely with midfielders Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, and what's interesting is that the former gave him 152 passes last season in the league, whereas in 2019/20 that figure is just 63. For Kroos, those comparative numbers are 131 and 70.

This is perhaps due to Zinedine Zidane typically tending to sacrifice one of his two playmakers from his starting XI.

Another factor is that Marcelo, who fed the Frenchman 131 times in 2018/19, as he has missed 12 games due to injury this term.

It's also worth highlighting that the attackers playing alongside Benzema don't generate much interplay with him.

Gareth Bale is 13th in terms of playing most passes to him this season, while Vinicius Junior is 10th and Lucas Vazquez is 14th.

Marco Asensio and Eden Hazard might well have been the men to link up more with their spearhead, but they have spent much of the campaign out injured.