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Karim Benzema has ­netted two hat-tricks in the Champions League this season – and needs another to break Cristiano ­Ronaldo’s single-season goal-scoring record in the competition.

But Saturday night at the Stade de France is just the first of three big dates for the Real Madrid star in the French ­capital this year. Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mane will have to ­produce some stunning ­performances to prevent the striker, 34, claiming the Ballon d’Or, which will be presented in Paris on October 17.

Before that, he will face a court case on June 30 to appeal against a one-year ­suspended sentence and €75,000 fine imposed in November for his ­“complicity” in the attempted blackmail of former France team-mate Mathieu Valbuena.

It would be ­another ­remarkable hat-trick to win all three. But then it has been an incredible year for the former enfant terrible of French ­football, who only returned to the France squad in May last year after a five-year ­suspension over the Valbuena sex-tape scandal.

With 44 goals in 44 games this season, including 15 in the Champions League, he strikes more often than a French lorry driver. And his Panenka ­penalty against Manchester City in the semi-final ­demonstrated the deadly ­combination of nerve and technique which