When Gonzalo Higuain's back gave in and sidelined him at the eleventh hour before Real Madrid played a crucial Clasico in Barcelona, Jose Mourinho was worried. He was so worried that he threw fits at the media every Friday (and sometimes on Mondays or Tuesdays) about how he had predicted this would happen. Now that the dog was in the hospital, Jose would have to hunt with a cat. And everyone knows hunting with a cat is less effective .

Benzema started in one of the most eagerly anticipated derbis in recent times, and managed to get a grand total of 3 touches in a game (no, I didn't count) where we went through absolute humiliation. The backlash was immediate.

Not only did the cat look like he was at a funeral every time he lined up in the White shirt, but he also ran like he didn't give a damn, and wasn't seen with anyone except Lass, the other bad boy of the group. A couple of high speed car crashes didn't help very much either.

Karim Benzema came in as a highly touted, highly talented, highly paid foreigner in a position we already had 2 great strikers in.  A year and a half in, and he was crashing and burning spectacularly. His Real Madrid career was going the same way as Robinho's - down the shitter. I was beginning to wish we'd gone after David Villa instead.

Somewhere along the line though, something changed. In Karim's play and in his attitude. Somewhere between the dozens public beratings by Mourinho at press conferences, hundreds of transfer rumors, and I'm sure thousands of private tongue lashings that he got from the mister, the feline got a little more ferocious, day by day, until a time came when he was starting regularly again, ahead of even Adebayor, who had been brought in to do Benzema's job right. He didn't feature in the Champions League clashes against Barcelona, but towards the end of the season, flashes of the old Lyon poacher were beginning to shine through.

Now, he is a different Karim. It would have been so easy for Mou to ship him off in the transfer window, or for Benzema to cry to the media about his playing time, or the fact that the manager was slagging him off in public - but he kept his head down, and he kept going at it - to the point that people are debating whether he is better than Cristiano Ronaldo in his own position!

The Frenchman has been a cornerstone of this historic run of 12 wins out of 12 at an average of 4 goals per game. He's aggressive, he's intelligent, he's lethal, and he's only 23. When Karim Benzema attempted a bicycle kick that hit the bar last night, and only smirked when it didn't go in, you knew he had arrived. I remember there was a point where he said - "I'm not a cat anymore, I'm a lion."

Now, I believe him.