'It's a shame to finish like this': Giroud saddened by Benzema's chaotic end to career in blue

Jean-Baptiste Sarrazin, with Jean-François Pérès and Céline Géraud 17:29 pm, March 21, 2023

"Too bad." For Olivier Giroud, the story between Karim Benzema and the Blues ends in a brutal and regrettable way. Exceptional guest of the show Europe 1 Sport (every evening from 20 hours to 23 hours live on Europe 1) a few days before the match of the France against the Netherlands counting for the qualifications of Euro 2024, the player of AC Milan was saddened by the situation: "It's a shame to finish like this. And everything he's done for the France team, his career he's had... Of course I would have preferred him to stop on a good point" final, responded the former Gunners.

Excluded from the France team for several years, "KB9" had resurfaced with the Blues in 2021 before being selected for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. But a tragic injury a few days before the start of the competition had pushed him to leave the group. "I wouldn't have liked to have been in his place at the World Cup knowing that it was probably his last," Giroud said. A confused situation that has since revived tensions between coach Didier Deschamps and the Real Madrid striker, the first claiming that the player could not be operational for the duration of the World Cup, which the second refuted leaving doubt on a forced sideline.

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"His decision"

The departure of Karim Benzema from the Blue Group, in the greatest chaos, also led to his international retirement. A final choice, announced on social networks, that Olivier Giroud respects despite the way it was made: "It's his decision. Now, it is certain that the announcement of retirement is an important day and that we all want to choose our exit, that it goes as well as possible. Now, if he made the choice to stop, we must respect him."

If the Madrid player retired internationally, "it is because he felt that he no longer wanted, he could not," then reacted Olivier Giroud at the microphone of Jean-François Peres and Celine Geraud. And for the record holder of the number of goals in the history of the France team with 53 achievements in the tricolor jersey, it was "his choice". Questioned at a press conference on Monday, Didier Deschamps put an end on the situation: "It's a closed subject, I'm not going to re-comment anything."

The divorce between "KB9" and the Blues now seems final. Although invited to a ceremony paying tribute to the former Blues and organized by the FFF ahead of the match against the Netherlands this Friday, Karim Benzema should not make the trip.