Not signing Benzema prevented us from continuing the French striker tradition we enjoyed so joyously with Anelka and Henry and most probably prolong our golden period. However, Real Madrid themselves were well aware of this archetypal generational Frenchman. They apparently signed a contract with Henry when he was at Monaco (before Henry reneged), signed Anelka from us for a then world record fee, landed their man Benzema and currently sought Mbappe. Karim ended up moving for over 40 million euros in the same year we had just pushed a club record 15 million pounds deal over the line for Andrei Arshavin. We had no chance of landing Benzema, and no, Arsene didn't store wads of cash under his bed like his critics loved to say at the time.
As for the CL, it's never been more exhilarating since I started watching football. So many all-time classic games over the past 5 years.
