Jean-François Pérès, edited by Solène Leroux 4:45 p.m., November 10, 2021

While he has always said the opposite, the president of the French Football Federation, Noël Le Graët, announced Tuesday evening that the summons of Karim Benzema "in the coming months will not be linked to the judgment" of the case of the sextape. In October, the Versailles prosecutor's office requested a ten-month suspended prison sentence against the Real Madrid striker.

A disconcerting turnaround.

Noël Le Graët has changed his mind: he announced Tuesday in the columns of the

Parisian

that finally, Karim Benzema will be able to remain in the France team, even if he is condemned in the case of the Mathieu Valbuena sextape.

A statement all the more surprising that in 2015, the same president of the French Football Federation had declared that "KB9" was no longer selectable for the France team.

The French international was then only indicted.

"He's a player that I really like," he was basically saying.

"But we have to wait for justice to lean to one side or the other," he concluded.

A surprising about-face

Six years later, justice has still not passed, not for two weeks at least.

Karim Benzema faces ten months suspended prison sentence and a 75,000 euro fine.

Noel Le Graët has therefore evolved a lot on the issue.

In 2019, he swore that Karim Benzema's career in the France team was over.

Since then, he has validated not only the return of the Real Madrid striker in blue for the Euro, but also since yesterday, therefore, his maintenance regardless of the decision of the court of Versailles.

Karim Benzema's summons "in the coming months will not be linked to the judgment," he assures us.

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For the FFF, Benzema has already served his sentence

So, we have the right to find this reversal of the situation at best puzzling, at worst cynical or demagogic.

It is true that Benzema is shining on the pitch at the moment with the Réal.

With the Blues, he regained the hearts of the public.

He is also one of the favorites for the Ballon d'Or.

So difficult, if not impossible now, to do without him on the ground, even with this sword of Judicial Damocles over his head.

At the French Football Federation this morning, some believe that the player, absent for six years from the Blues has, in a way, already served his sentence.

Above all, he completely turned the situation to his advantage.