The clasico will not have the same flavor on Sunday.
Indeed, the French international center-forward Karim Benzema will not be part of the squad of his club, Real Madrid.
Injured in the left calf, he will miss the return match of the 29th day of La Liga against FC Barcelona, tomorrow at 9 p.m.
Other bad news: Benze will not be able to join the France team on Monday.
“Karim (Benzema) and (Ferland) Mendy will not be able to play tomorrow (Sunday).
They will stay here with us next week, ”said Ancelotti this Saturday afternoon at a pre-match press conference.
His participation in the friendly matches of the France team against the Ivory Coast (March 25 in Marseille) and South Africa (March 29 in Lille) seems very compromised.
He had been summoned Thursday by Didier Deschamps, but this injury will prevent him from joining Clairefontaine, where he was to join his compatriots.
Encouraging medical examinations
After delivering an assist and scoring two goals on Monday in Mallorca for the 28th day of La Liga, thus becoming with 413 goals the top French scorer in history ahead of Thierry Henry (411), Karim Benzema left in the 87th minute visibly embarrassed by a pain in the left calf, leaving his teammates to finish the match at ten.
“Karim felt discomfort on a jump.
We'll see if he can recover for Sunday, ”said Real's Italian coach at a post-match press conference on Monday.
The medical examinations passed by the player on Friday seemed encouraging, but "KB9" trained alone indoors on Friday, and did not take part in collective training on Saturday morning, the day before the clasico.
New configuration for Real
To compensate for the absence of his favorite centre-forward, top scorer and best assistor in the Spanish league this season (22 goals and 11 assists in 25 La Liga matches), Ancelotti has several options.
He could launch Mariano or Luka Jovic, pure centre-forwards but who have had little playing time this season;
associate Vinicius with Rodrygo and Marco Asensio, the attackers who have accompanied Benzema the most on the front of the merengue attack over the current exercise;
even give a chance to Eden Hazard or Gareth Bale, forgotten on the bench for a long time.
“Everything is decided, but I will not tell you anything”, slipped Ancelotti, this Saturday.
Benzema (34) has already missed three matches due to injury a few weeks ago: on January 23 against Elche, he came out in the 58th minute by touching the back of his left leg, and was replaced by the forward. Serbian center Luka Jovic.
He returned just in time for the knockout round of the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes on February 15.
Sport
Didier Deschamps' list: "It was time to see them", Nkunku and Clauss appear in Blue...
Sport
Real Madrid: Benzema best French scorer in history ahead of Titi Henry (but injured before Barça?)
Clasico
league
FC Barcelona
Soccer
Karim Benzema
real Madrid
Sport
0 comment
0 share
Share on Messenger
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Flipboard
Share on Pinterest
Share on Linkedin
Send by Mail
To safeguard
A fault ?
To print