In Clairefontaine,

In the jargon, this is called an assist.

In addition to the possibility of treading the soil of Yvelynes for the first time since Methuselah, the journalists following the Blues were offered on a set Mike Maignan, who has just signed for AC Milan and Raphaël Varane, who has just lost his coach. at Real Madrid and find his best teammate in the France team.

A casting right in the news, even if the presence of the central defender of the France team has especially brought water to the mill of "Benzeback" (the return of Benzema, what).

Let us also recognize Varane and his broad smile for having played the game with a little less tongue in cheek than usual, a sign that he too was carried away by the hype of the moment.

“I am very happy with Karim's return to the team,” he commented.

On top of that for five to six years I was in a delicate position when I was asked questions about him: I was between a friend and the manager whom I knew during all my selections.

“Whoever has ever found his butt between two chairs can attest to the discomfort of such a position.

“I was in a position where I could both talk to Karim and the manager.

But I had no role in his return.

"

Attentive to the life of the group

But all that is in the past. No more letting Karim Benzema play baby-sitters with the young Merengue in Valdebebas while he went off to win a second star in Russia. There is no longer any need to tell his club mate about the exploits of his compatriots with the blue tunic on each return to Spain - something, says Rapha, of whom KB9 was very curious: "He has always been attentive to the life of the group and all the matches we played during his absence. The France team is something he has always had in his heart. "

Now Benzema is here, and his integration has been going well since he tiptoed in front of the chateau cameras, where he was greeted the day before by an enthusiastic DD.

“We saw from the first hours that he got along well with some of the team's players,” said Varane, “that there is a good atmosphere.

“The first images of smiles shared with the two other men with whom he must form the most powerful trio of the Euro - Mbappé and Griezmann - do not deceive and already make the groupies shiver that we are.

With a promise from the vice-captain: "he will not upset the collective balance of the France team".

We'll be watching this closely.

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  • Soccer

  • Sport

  • Karim Benzema

  • real Madrid

  • French football team

  • Raphael Varane