Two enemies of Benzema in France sculpted on video: they failed to pretend

It couldn’t end worse than this. Karim Benzema and the France: the flashback after his return to the national team after his long exile – as a result of the role he played in Valbuena’s sexual blackmail – didn’t last just a year, but ended up in a pit of poisons. First the withdrawal (which seemed forced) in the World Cup due to a muscle injury and the departure of Qatar before the start of the tournament, then the emergence of another truth when seeing him train without problems with Real Madrid and even enter the field for a friendly. Finally, his refusal to go to Doha as a simple supporter for the final, after Deschamps had angrily rejected questions about his possible call-up against Argentina (possible under regulations, as the 35-year-old striker had not been replaced in the squad of 26 players delivered to FIFA).

With these icy premises, Benzema’s subsequent announcement of his departure from the national team surprised very few. It is possible that the decision will be reversed if Zidane – with whom he has a very different relationship – is to sit on the Les Bleus bench instead of deschampsbut at this moment, the signs point towards the confirmation of the current coach, for whom the results brought home since he took office 10 years ago speak for themselves.

Benzema and Deschamps at last year’s Europeans: an underheated soup

Incidentally, the sore point of the difficult relationship between Benzema and the French team is not just the relationship with the coach, since even living in the locker room with some senators became difficult because of his 6-year absence🇧🇷 Hard to pretend that nothing happened to the old comrades and so it’s not surprising that someone didn’t pull their hair out, not to say cheer, when the new Ballon d’Or left Qatar. Someone had spoken of a poisonous dualism with Giroud, who replaced him in the center of attack throughout the tournament, but according to French journalist Romain Molina, the problems were not with the current AC Milan striker.

There would have been two other sworn ‘enemies’ of Benzema within the teamto the point of beinghappy” of his departure. The Veterans Hugo Lloris and Antoine Griezman they would never have accepted Karim’s return, mainly because it would affect their status as leaders within the group. This reconstruction of the facts would be confirmed by a video that has gone viral, which dates back to the Real Madrid striker’s return to the national team last year. In the images, Lloris and Griezmann are seen with icy expressions – as Deschamps gives a speech to welcome Benzema back – only to applaud because they have to (incidentally, Griezmann then stops and lowers his head).

According to Molina, when Benzema found out in Madrid that his injury was not as serious as the French Football Federation had told him – to the point of recovering shortly thereafter – the striker wanted to return to Qatar to recover for the quarter-finals. final, if not already in the round of 16. However, the Football Association and Deschamps never considered his return viable.convincingly deciding to continue with the remaining players and their respective hierarchies in the dressing room, with Lloris and Griezmann – as well as Mbappé obviously – leading the pack.

Molina’s reconstruction concludes by saying that some people within the French Football Federation thought they could use Benzema as a scapegoat if something went wrong during Euro 2021, as it was his first tournament with Les Bleus for some time and he represented the top novelty compared to the World Cup won in 2018 in Russia. Whatever the truth, in the final against Argentina a Benzema on the field would probably have been useful for France: when the level reaches the sky, it’s the stars that make the difference.