GOAL

Real Madrid attacker Karim Benzema has revealed that he dreams of winning the Fifa Ballon d'Or at some point in the future, although he realises it would take some extraordinary performances to achieve his goal.

The Frenchman is dreaming big irrespective of the stiff competition and has admitted he went through a difficult period at Madrid early on

Barcelona attacker Lionel Messi and Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated the prestigious individual award in recent years, with the Argentine bagging the trophy four times in the last seven years and Benzema's team-mate emerging victorious on the remaining three occasions.

Nevertheless, the France international refuses to bury his dream of once being regarded as the best player in the world.

"Winning the Ballon d'Or remains one of my objectives," Benzema told beIN SPORTS.

"I am not going to lie about it. The Ballon d'Or is always in the back of my mind. Every player dreams of winning it.

"What I would need to do to win it? I would have to win a lot of titles and score 80 goals or so in one year!"

The 27-year-old then went on to admit that he went through a difficult period after joining Madrid from Lyon in the summer of 2009.

"I was quite happy with my move to Madrid, but after the first few weeks I felt lost without my family.

"It was very difficult for me. I had to put in a lot of hard work, things I did not necessarily do at Lyon. It was like another dimension.

"All the hard work has helped me develop. I know what I am worth now. This is my sixth year at Real Madrid. Had I been just any other player, I would not have stayed at Madrid this long."

Benzema also briefly discussed the upcoming Clasico later this month and stressed that Barcelona are an opponent he likes to come up against.

"The Clasico is the best game there is in the entire world. Everybody has to be at 100 per cent. It's the biggest game out there. Things go really fast and you feel enormous pressure.

"Barcelona are an opponent that suit me, though."