Benzema has more goals than Ronaldo since 2018 and backed by United legend for Ballon d'Or

It's not often that players get better when one of the best footballers in the world leaves their club - but Benzema has - highlighted by his stunning hat-trick in the Champions League against Chelsea on Wednesday night.

Since Ronaldo left Madrid for Juventus in 2018, Benzema has found the net 124 times for his club, which beats the Portuguese's 119 for Juventus and Man United since his Real departure.

He also managed to achieve a feat only Ronaldo and two others have done after his treble at Stamford Bridge

He became just the fourth player to score back-to-back hat-tricks in the Champions League, after his former teammate, Lionel Messi, and Luiz Adriano.

The former Lyon man is enjoying the most prolific campaign of his career to date, scoring 37 goals in 36 games this season.

And ex-Manchester United man Rio Ferdinand says he would be shocked if the centre-forward doesn't win the Ballon d'Or at the end of the year.

"Karim Benzema, if they're not engraving his name on the Ballon d'Or I'll be surprised," he told BT Sport.

"He's been magic. In the last tie, he was magnificent and grabbed a hat-trick. Tonight he's done the same and got another hat-trick.

"This man made the difference. Yes, they got their tactics right with Vinicius [Junior] out on the right and pinning [Andreas] Christensen back.

"But, he put the chances away as they came and dispatched them beautifully. What a masterclass."