Bottled lightning: Christian Benteke at Aston Villa
Benteke the brilliant Belgian was a joy to behold in Birmingham
There goes Harry Kane, England captain.
Off to Germany. Off to spawny champions Bayern. Off to back into the central defenders of the Bundesliga and manufacture contact with its sliding full backs. Off to win trophies, finally, and to try to prove once and for all that he’s of the same ilk as Robert Lewandowski.
Off to leave Erling Haaland to chase down Alan Shearer’s record 260 Premier League goals unhindered. Kane’s total – for now – is 213. That’s five more than Wayne Rooney in 171 fewer appearances.
Despite the dearth of silverware and the relatively understated way in which he’s gone about his business, Kane’s departure is a significant waypoint in the history of the Premier League. I feel nothing.
By coincidence, Kane’s move finally came in the week in which I decided to focus the newsletter on a star striker whose transfer away from Aston Villa, albeit after fewer years and nothing like the proficiency in front of goal, was a blow. I certainly felt that.
Let’s get to it.
Bottled lightning: Christian Benteke at Aston Villa
The relationship between Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion isn’t your typical football rivalry. Though it has significant historical resonance, such that many older Villa supporters consider Albion to be Villa’s real local rivals, the enmity between the two lacks the unrefined bluntness of the more familiar Second City derby.
Near enough every journey I made to Villa Park before I reached my thirties took me past the front gate of the Hawthorns. Yet, while I was aware of some hostility, it was (and is) Birmingham City who are Villa’s nemesis.
Villa’s rivalry with Birmingham can endure an absence of direct interaction in a way the Baggies equivalent cannot. Thus, when I was growing up, Albion were just kind of there, like Rochdale or Coventry City.
Even when the three teams encountered one another in the Premier League after the turn of the century, the modern distaste for Blues was where the real spice happened. That is, until they went down and it became clear they weren’t coming back around the same time as Albion – with Villa – stabilised within the ranks of the top division’s slightly crap.
By the spring of 2015 things were bubbling up nicely and the intensity of two matches in particular was off the charts.
Villa’s 2-0 win over Albion in the FA Cup quarter-final is best remembered now for the post-match pitch invasion, itself a product of the increased animosity between the two sets of supporters. The BBC’s Phil McNulty referred to the mass encroachment onto the Villa Park pitch as “a brief return to English football’s dark ages” – extraordinary words from a man who more routinely trades in Monday morning insomnia therapy.
The flames had been fanned by the fact that Villa, who were in the midst of a relegation but starting to extract what little benefit was to be had from Tim Sherwood’s hapless but enthusiastic management, had beaten Albion at Villa Park in the Premier League just four days earlier.
That Tuesday night at the beginning of March produced one of the most arse-clenchingly tense football matches I’ve ever witnessed. After taking the lead through Gabriel Agbonlahor’s first goal in fifteen matches, Villa were pegged back in the middle of the second half.
With the score at 1-1, the match ticked into stoppage time. Albion goalkeeper Ben Foster fouled Matthew Lowton. Christian Benteke placed the ball on the penalty spot in the 94th minute, in front of him only Foster and a Holte End frozen by nerves.
Villa hadn’t won for four months. Sherwood hadn’t won a league game. It felt as if the entire season was on the line but Benteke laughed in the face of fear and tucked in an ice-cold spot kick to turn one point into three. That crucial goal is the first that comes to mind when I think of Benteke. There were 48 others at Villa, many of them spectacular. But that penalty stands out.
Though I’m most inclined to put Benteke’s dwindling reputation after leaving Villa down to a combination of a big transfer fee, the aftermath of injuries that affected his game and a general underappreciation of what he could do, it’s also true that sometimes a club and a player just fit.
The Belgian left KRC Genk and joined Villa, then freshly managed by Paul Lambert, in the summer of 2012. He came off the bench to score on his debut and never looked back. As Lambert’s Villa found a baffling array of new ways to disappoint, Benteke’s sheer force of ability dragged them to Premier League safety more than once and, later, to what turned out to be a shambolic FA Cup final.
Of the eleven players who started Benteke’s first Villa match, only defender Ron Vlaar played at Wembley in his last. Fabian Delph and Jack Grealish started that final after starring in the semi-final against Benteke’s next club, Liverpool. Those three apart, any improvement in personnel over the course of three seasons was imperceptible to the naked eye.
All the while, Benteke was a blazing light in that very specific kind of darkness that only comes from acute monotony. He was wonderful.
Benteke was young when he joined Villa but immediately played with the assuredness of a man who knew his capabilities were not normal. His confidence was justified by deftness and guile in his touch, inventive finishing and incredible strength.
It might sound strange to neutrals but two football cliches leap to mind when I think back to Benteke at Villa. He was a great goal scorer and a scorer of great goals – a piss taker, really. He also had all of the characteristics of strikers who are described as unplayable. Occasionally, he genuinely was. What a spectacle.
Despite his exceptional ability Benteke, now 32 and plying his trade in Major League Soccer for DC United, has never recaptured his Villa form. A goal every 171 minutes for Villa became a goal every 220 minutes for Liverpool. He scored every 292 minutes for Crystal Palace, the club where he’s played the most.
His dwindling goal return is only part of the story. Benteke’s game has changed with injury and age. He was rather better liked at Selhurst Park than Anfield, his quality evident in other aspects even as the goals dried up.
Strikers who don’t score are seldom fully appreciated outside their clubs. Often, they’re even disrespected by their own supporters. Making the kind of contribution required to avoid that is a tough ask. It wasn’t needed at Villa. He scored too; big goals in important matches.
Villa’s Benteke was a sensation. No ifs, no buts and no maybes. No caveats needed, no explanation necessary.
Benteke illuminated grey years. He made being a Villa supporter worthwhile. Whatever else he sees in his mind’s eye when he looks back on a career when he reaches the retirement that can now only be a few years away, I hope he sees that.
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“We can’t caveat every criticism, observation or joke with the fact we don’t know what happened in a player’s past or what is going on behind the scenes. But we should always be aware of our own superficial understanding – and sensitive about those we discuss.”
In light of Dele Alli’s recent revealing interview, Max Rushden ushered in the new season with a call for pundits and journalists – and, one assumes, supporters – to consider their words carefully.
Salty beef extracts
Lauren James made a stupid mistake – but we need to have more compassion (The Guardian)
England’s brutish triumph is not how champions play. But it is how champions win (The Guardian)
The ‘betrayal’ of Luton Town and their 31-year fight to reach the Premier League (i)
Referees are trying to save football and you’re not going to like it (i)
FPL is rancid (Gambling with Lives)
Dessert
adidas have kitted out new Real Madrid signing Jude Bellingham with these gold and white Predators and they’re really rather fetching.
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