Karim Benzema is leaving Real Madrid and Twitter understandably exploded.

Of course, it was reported that he was leaving for Saudi Arabia earlier this week only for Benzema to take a supposed u-turn and claim the internet wasn't reality.

This was backed up Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti who revealed Saturday that he expected the Frenchman to remain with the club until his contract expired in 2024.

However, all that changed on Sunday when the club officially announced that Benzema would be departing after 14 seasons at the Bernabeu.

“Real Madrid Football Club and our captain Karim Benzema have agreed to bring his brilliant and unforgettable time as a player at our club to a close,” the club wrote in a statement. “Real Madrid would like to show our gratitude and affection to a player who is already one of our greatest legends.”

Naturally, this was massive news in the football world. After all, the Real Madrid tweet announcing the news has 23,000 retweets in the space of an hour at the time of writing.

There was a wide range of reactions from Real Madrid fans getting emotional and paying tribute to their captain, to fans of certain clubs wanting Benzema to sign with them, to others looking ahead to his replacement potentially being Tottenham and England striker Harry Kane.

Here are some of the best reactions to the Karim Benzema news from Twitter:

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Pep Guardiola looking down/sad in the middle, Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland on the sides, the Manchester City logo in the back

Fremont Farkas ·

Jude Bellingham smiling in front of the Manchester City and Real Madrid logos

Fremont Farkas ·

Harry Kane Tottenham

Fahad Hamid ·

It's definitely the end of an era at Real Madrid, but at the same time, a start of a new one that could be spearheaded by the likes of Vinicius Jr., Rodrigo and whoever ends up being Benzema's replacement.