Five-time UEFA Champions League winner Karim Benzema has recalled a "problem" he once had with ex-Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho.
A year after the Frenchman joined Los Blancos from Olympique Lyon in 2009, Mourinho was appointed as the LaLiga club's manager to replace the outgoing Manuel Pellegrini.
Under the Portuguese boss, Benzema impressed as he scored 78 goals and assisted a further 49 strikes in 150 matches, but working with Mourinho was not always smooth sailing for the forward.
Recalling his start to life in Madrid in a recent interview, he remembered how an issue with the now-Roma manager led to him proving the charismatic tactician wrong.
"My first season, the first six months, were very difficult, as I was alone and I didn't speak the language so everything was complicated," Benzema said, according to Marca.
"I had arrived in a new world, with a new team, a different type of football. Luckily, I didn't give up.
"I remember I had a little problem with Jose Mourinho at one point. We met at the hotel and we had a conversation the day before a match against Real Mallorca.
"I wasn't supposed to play the game and, as we were arguing, I told him, 'Tomorrow you start me and I'll score, and I'll make you win the game'. The next day I scored and we won 1-0."
Benzema lifted three trophies, including the LaLiga title, under Mourinho at Real between 2010 and 2013.
