KARIM Benzema said he had become more ambitious with age as the Real Madrid and France striker won the Ballon d'Or on Monday, and dedicated his trophy "to the people".

Benzema, who turns 35 in December, the day after the World Cup final, is five months older than Lionel Messi was when the Argentine won the most prestigious individual award in football for the seventh time last year.

Indeed he is the oldest winner since England's Stanley Matthews won the very first Ballon d'Or in 1956.

"Winning this trophy was always in the back of my mind but what has changed since I turned 30 is ambition," Benzema said after collecting the prize in a star-studded ceremony at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris.

Benzema was just 21 when he joined Real Madrid from Lyon in 2009. He has come into his own in the Spanish capital since Cristiano Ronaldo's departure in 2018, when Benzema was 30.