It’s no real secret, but Christian Benteke’s last two seasons in a Crystal Palace shirt have been anything but good.
Scoring just two goals in his last 36 Premier League appearances, the striker has really struggled in front of goal, leading him to feature less and less under Roy Hodgson.
For example, the 29-year-old had started just nine games this season, and five of those came in the last five fixtures before the Covid-19 pandemic brought the world of football to a stop.
However, he was finally finding his feet again, which showed his ability to overcome the critics.
Now at home with his children, his brother and his sister during the quarantine, the Crystal Palace forward sat down with La Meuse in his home country, where he discussed those difficult periods where he simply couldn’t find the back of the net.
Asked how he coped, he said: “Like any player with expectations, otherwise critics wouldn’t exist, or would be less important. It’s not a speech of circumstances, but I don’t pay attention to critics because I’m probably the toughest when it comes to analysing my performances.
“I’ve always been hard on myself and I think it’s more important than what people or football specialists can think. More globally, I do listen, but with age and two kids, you put things in perspective more easily and see things differently, and even if it isn’t always easy, you need to stay positive because that’s the only way to move forward”.
As he puts it, in football, ‘there’s no magic’ and you need to continue to work hard to overcome adversity on the pitch.
For Benteke, the fact he’s managed to stay so long in the Premier League is a testament to what he can do on the pitch.
He continued: “This allows me to not question everything when things don’t go that well. It also helps me to know what I need to change to do what I was doing before”.
