Euro 2021: Didier Deschamps deconfines Karim Benzema
Karim Benzema, during a partido of La Liga de Campeones disputado between el Real Madrid y el Borussia Moenchengladbach el 9 de diciembre de 2020 in the española capital Pierre-Philippe Marcou AFP / Archivos
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
3 min
Against all expectations, the coach of the Blues Didier Deschamps summoned this Tuesday, May 18, the Madrilenian Karim Benzema, his favorite striker from the 2014 World Cup, banned for five and a half years.
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This Tuesday, May 18, 2021 will be a milestone in the history of the Blues.
Indeed, the coach Didier Deschamps unveiled in the early evening on TF1 and M6 the name of Karim Benzema in his list for the Euro.
"
We saw each other, we discussed at length, I made my decision and I will not comment on this discussion,
" said a visibly relieved Didier Deschamps.
The end of the disenchantment between the France team and the Real Madrid player.
A very long purgatory
Five and a half years after his 81st and last selection, the former Olympique Lyonnais striker returns to the Deschamps Blues.
The story had been put on hold since the emergence of the Mathieu Valbuena “sextape” affair at the end of 2015.
In the last 24 hours, rumors had swelled when the daily Le Parisien and the radio Europe 1 announced that Benzema "
should appear
" in Deschamps' list. His summons had the effect of a thunderclap on the football planet: the "case" of Benzema, 33, had not been a subject for many months, because Deschamps systematically refused to mention the player with 27 goals. in Blue during its press conferences. But Deschamps had never, either, officially excluded the hypothesis of a return of his favorite striker from the 2014 World Cup, despite the Madrilenians over his five years of disgrace.
Since 2016, we thought the link between Deschamps and Benzema completely broken following the statements of the player to the address of the coach.
The coach had not digested the words of the Madrilenian declaring that Deschamps had "
yielded under the pressure of a racist part of France
" at the time of his non-selection at Euro 2016 in France.
Benzema, 33, at the top of his game
The best French striker of the season (29 goals and 8 assists in all competitions) and the coach have visibly reconciled for a good cause. France will find the one who offered himself four Champions Leagues and three titles in the Spanish Championship with Real. Karim Benzema was named last Sunday best French player playing in a foreign championship as part of the UNFP trophies, as in 2019. He beat Hugo Lloris, N'Golo Kanté, Ousmane Dembélé.
Since his arrival at the head of the France team, Didier Deschamps has had complicated relationships with some players such as Ben Arfa, Gignac, or Rabiot.
But Deschamps never closed the door and they all came back.
"
I do not like to take radical positions
", then justified the coach when commenting on the recall of the former Parisian Adrien Rabiot, who had refused to appear on the list of reservists at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
France will therefore be able to take advantage of the duo between Karim Benzema and Kilian Mbappé to get the World / Euro double as in 1998 and 2000.
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