Karim Benzema is entering his 10th year as a Real Madrid player in 2018-19, and never has the onus been on him more to provide the goals for Los Blancos.
The loss of club-record scorer Cristiano Ronaldo heightens the importance of others such as Benzema, Gareth Bale, Marco Asensio and Isco to fire Madrid to further glory, although it is surely impossible to entirely offset the absence of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.
Benzema's own goalscoring abilities have come under question at a club of Madrid's stature; the Frenchman has only twice broken the 20-goal barrier in La Liga and just once scored 30 or more goals across all competitions during his decade in the Spanish capital.
The 2017-18 campaign in particular was disappointing with only five goals in 32 league appearances, but he will be looking to make a fresh start this term - starting with Wednesday's UEFA Super Cup clash with Atletico Madrid in Tallinn.
Here, Sports Mole looks at how Benzema has fared against Los Rojiblancos in the past.
Atletico have certainly not been happy opponents for Benzema, with just three goals from his previous 29 meetings during his time with Real - the worst goals-per-minute ratio of any opponent in his entire career.
All three of those goals have come in La Liga - the most recent of which was in October 2015 - since when he has gone eight matches without a goal against the city rivals.
Things started off well enough for Benzema, with victories in his first eight meetings with Atletico across all competitions, but since then Madrid have won just five of 21 in which Benzema has played, with three of those coming in the Champions League.
The 30-year-old has only been on the losing side more often against Barcelona than his eight defeats at the hands of Atletico, although the early purple patch of form in the Madrid derby means that he has beaten Atletico as many times as any other club too.
Real have also avoided defeat in the seven derbies which have seen Benzema directly contribute to a goal, with five wins and two draws in that time.
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