Ballon d'Or: Benzema, a "victory" for French football, says Deschamps

Europe 1 with AFP 6:26 p.m., October 18, 2022

A few weeks before the World Cup in Qatar, the news could only have delighted the coach of the Blues, Didier Deschamps.

Karim Benzema, also nicknamed KB9, won the 66th Ballon d'Or on Monday, making him the best player in the world for the 2021-2022 season. 

"I'm not surprised, we expected it anyway, but it's something fabulous for him, for his family of course. Beyond the titles that players can win collectively, it's the ultimate reward on an individual level," said Deschamps during a press briefing at the Ligue de Paris-Île de France, in Villeparisis in Seine-et-Marne.

"It's a great moment for him, for those close to him and that he's a Frenchman, it's another victory for French football," continued the boss of the Blues.

Relationships with a difficult past between the two men

"It highlights the whole of French football through this award for Karim. It is first of all his merit, by what he has done, his career, but as he is in a collective sport, he "Would not have been able to obtain it without the help and participation of its partners, whether in the club or with the France team. It is an individual reward but also a collective victory", commented the coach.

Deschamps, in office since 2012, had selected Benzema for the 2014 World Cup before the Madrid striker was sidelined because of his involvement in the affair of the "sextape" of his former teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

This had made relations complicated between the two men.

The coach nevertheless decided to recall the center-forward before the Euro in 2021 (elimination in the round of 16), a surprise return which bore fruit with a title in the League of Nations in October 2021, pending the World Cup-2022 at the Qatar (November 20-December 18) where France will defend its crown won in 2018 in Russia.