Karim Benzema – Olivier Giroud, crossover or new cohabitation?

• Didier Deschamps will give this Thursday (2 p.m.) the list of Blues selected for the next four games in the League of Nations.

• Absent through injury in March, Karim Benzema will necessarily be selected.

• The presence or absence of Olivier Giroud, author of a convincing return in March after months in the fridge, will be particularly scrutinized.

Before addressing quality, a question of quantity.

Will Didier Deschamps, as usual, call 23 players this Thursday at 2 p.m., or more?

Because it will take people to wrestle with four League of Nations matches in 10 days (Denmark, Croatia twice and Austria), from June 3 to 13, at the twilight of an already grueling season for most internationals.

If the coach sticks to the minimum formula, other questions arise: which lucky ones will board the blue train, which will only stop at one other station (two Nations League matches in September) before its terminus in Qatar, for the World Cup (November 21 – December 18)?

Paul Pogba's injury could reopen the door for Eduardo Camavinga, while the returns of Benjamin Pavard and Ousmane Dembélé would be anything but a surprise.

And Olivier Giroud in all this?

#WhoScored Only #Leão (17) and #Giroud (12) have been involved in more Serie A goals for AC Milan than Theo #Hernández (11) this season.

pic.twitter.com/O2BdNgHdXt

— AC Milan 🇫🇷 (@ACMilanFRA) May 17, 2022

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Absent from the France team since the Euro, and therefore out of luck during the success in the League of Nations, the Milanese had returned as a stowaway at the time of the friendly matches in March.

He had been drafted after Karim Benzema's package, unstoppable since his return a year ago.

Deschamps not enthusiastic ahead of March games

If he had quickly found his bearings at Clairefontaine, Deschamps had not welcomed him with overflowing enthusiasm, at least in his remarks.

"It's always the big difficulty when there's a player who has status and has deserved it, if he doesn't have the same status and he's still there, it's very difficult to live with, even impossible, detailed Deschamps.

It's human and not specific to Olivier.

“Translated from Basque to French, it gave roughly: if Benzema is fit, Giroud will stay in Milan, any world champion and second goalscorer in the history of the Blues that he is.

The rest is known: "Olive" planted again, against Côte d'Ivoire (2-1) then South Africa (5-0), for his 111th and 112th selections.

He not only came within three lengths of Thierry Henry's record (51 goals) but also proved that he was not over at almost 36 years old, immersed in the bath of youth of Serie A, after seasons to polish the bench at Chelsea.

“This record, I have it in my head but it is not an obsession, then released the interested party to the site of the FFF.

But if I have to make the pass, I make the pass.

I think first of all of the collective and the good of the group.

»

A way to show Deschamps that he was ready to lay low, after the little confusion with Kylian Mbappé during the preparation for the Euro.

“The future, he doesn't know, I don't know, it will depend on a lot of things, evacuated the coach after the card against South Africa.

He confirmed that he had this ability to score.

It's very good for him and the group, we'll see for the month of June.

" Here we are.

Ultra-favorite for the Ballon d'Or, Karim Benzema is available this time.

Olivier Giroud has planted much less than the Madrid player (12 goals in all competitions, the last on April 24 against Lazio) but he continues to play a key role at AC Milan, one step away from winning his first Italian league title for 11 years.

Benzema compliments (a little) Giroud

Can the two men live together without worry?

In any case, their relationship seems peaceful, far from the time when KB9 compared himself, half-serious, half-laughing, to "an F1" and likened Giroud to "a karting".

With his indisputable status, Benzema is now magnanimous.

At the beginning of April in

, the Madrilenian greeted "the embarrassment of choice in blue" at the offensive level.

He cited Mbappé, Dembélé, Coman, Griezmann, Ben Yedder, but also his eternal rival.

“Before it was a point of fixation, now he still has this quality but he can also come a little more into the game. You can rely on him but he needs crosses.

Not the compliment of the century, but it's always a pleasure.

So, the Milanese replacing Madrid in Qatar in six months, is it possible?

“Interesting that both are there”

“It's interesting that the two are there in a team, noted the former Marseille and Bordeaux coach Elie Baup in

, at the end of March.

Olivier has a different profile which brings something new, which can modify the game system, the general initiatives.

It is important in a competition.

To find out if Didier Deschamps thinks the same thing, we will have to wait a few more months.

But Thursday's list will already release a first and very valuable clue.

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• Sport

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• Karim Benzema

• Olivier Giroud

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