Karim Benzema is back with the Blues for the first time since 2015.
A distorted quote on the Algerian selection and
La Marseillaise
is again attributed to him on social networks.
An elected RN and a former member of the RN also seized on the controversy.
Karim Benzema is back with the Blues jersey.
Didier Deschamps surprised Wednesday night by announcing the return of the Real Madrid striker, who had not played with the France team since 2015.
An announcement which delighted many athletes and supporters, but which was an opportunity for some commentators to bring out old controversies, even dubious quotes. As this message attributed to Karim Benzema since at least 2016, is again shared on social networks: "Algeria is my country, France is just for the sporting side and no one will force me to sing
La Marseillaise
. "
Guest of TPMP Tuesday evening, Jean Messiha, who left the National Gathering in 2020, took up this controversy: “When Karim Benzema in 2006 told us that his country is Algeria, that he would gladly have played in Algeria but that sportingly - understand for a matter of money - he prefers to play in France, when he does not sing
La Marseillaise
, when he spits on the ground after
La Marseillaise
performed in honor of the dead of the Bataclan, these things shock me.
"
On France Info, Stéphane Ravier, senator from the National Rally, alluded to the same message: “I remember his statements: I am French for football, but I am Algerian by heart.
"
FAKE OFF
The first part of the message shared on social networks is inspired by an interview given by Karim Benzema almost fifteen years ago. Then 18 years old, the player has been playing in the French jersey for two years. From the hope team, he has just joined the Blues of Raymond Domenech. He is then approached to be part of the Algerian selection, but declines.
Asked about this episode by Luis Fernandez in the
Luis Attaque program
on RMC, the player explains that he will "always be present" for the France team: "Earlier, it's true that I had a discussion, whether it is with the president or the coach [of Algeria], we have spoken well [...] Algeria, it is the country of my parents, it is in the heart, but well, afterwards, sportingly, it is true that I will play for the French team. I will be there, always present for the France team. "
Relaunched by Luis Fernandez, he confirms that his choice is on the France team.
Florian Genton then asks him: “At one point, did you ask yourself the question anyway, Karim, or directly you said to yourself, is it the French team for the sporting side?
"The ex-number ten replies:" It's more for the sporting side.
Algeria is my country, my parents come from there, so after France it's the athlete, that's it.
"
Karim Benzema has repeatedly expressed his attachment to France, as
Le Monde
has also noted
.
The second part of the quote alludes to another interview given by Karim Benzema in the
Luis Attaque program
on March 19, 2013. The player believes that the commentators accuse him of not singing
La Marseillaise
only because he goes through a phase without scoring with the Blues.
"It is not because I am going to sing
La Marseillaise
that, behind, I will put a hat-trick", explained the Madrid player.
" [If I
do not sing the Marseillaise, the match begins, I put three goals, at the end of the match we will not say "he did not sing the
Marseillaise
"! I think that's the problem. [Critics], it's because it's been a while since I scored in the France team. I take the example of Zidane, for example, who did not necessarily sing
La Marseillaise
, or there are others as well. I don't see where the problem is with not singing
La Marseillaise
, it really has nothing to do with it. "
In 2018, the footballer had specified to the Spanish edition of the magazine
Vanity Fair
not to sing the anthem, because “if we listen well,
La Marseillaise
calls for war.
That does not please me.
Karim Benzema is not the first player selected not to sing the hyme.
Michel Platini was also silent.
The story of spitting evoked by Jean Messiha dates from November 2015.
The Marseillaise
sounded before a match between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in memory of the victims of the November attacks.
The player had been filmed spitting out after the anthem.
His lawyer then argued that the striker was "extremely shocked at the interpretation given to this act, generally harmless, practiced by all footballers in the world.
"Recognizing that" such spitting is not welcome at this precise moment, in such circumstances ", Alain Jakubowicz stressed that his client" firmly contests the scandalous interpretation to which [this gesture] gives rise.
The footballer had also posted, before the match, a message of solidarity to the victims.
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