The Real Madrid coach and striker have been cold again since the World Cup in Qatar. Point of no return reached?
By Adrian Mathieu
© FRANCK FIFE / AFP
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On would think he had gone back three years, to a time when Didier Deschamps did not include Karim Benzema in his lists and every question about the absence of the Madrid striker irritated him to the highest degree. After returning to the France team at Euro 2021 and winning the last Nations League, the Golden Ball had missed the World Cup in Qatar for a thigh injury, detected the day before the tournament. And this is precisely where the rift came between the two men: Deschamps felt that his goalscorer would not have been restored in time for the knockout phase while Benzema is convinced that he could have helped the Blues to keep their title.
“A subject that is closed” for Deschamps
For almost three months and the lost final of the World Cup against Argentina, the number 9 of Real Madrid has been inveighing against the coach. Latest episode, a statement on social networks (“But what audacity”, with a clown emoji), where Karim Benzema had not failed to express his astonishment about a communication from Deschamps on the conditions of his departure from Qatar last November. Just after the World Cup, the former OL striker said he was retiring from international football. “I made the effort and the mistakes it took to be where I am today and I’m proud of it! I have written my story, and ours is ending. »
15 – Karim Benzema with the France team ����:
15 years and 77 days – 2nd longest life between the 1st and the last selection with the Blues ��
37 buts – 5e total ⚽️
Unfinished. pic.twitter.com/84JzXWyBGg
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) December 19, 2022
After unveiling his list for the next meetings of the Blues, Didier Deschamps was asked about this new critical outing of the 35-year-old striker. The coach of the French team, extended until 2026, very quickly kicked into touch. “I don’t watch social media. I know that this is a subject that interests you and that leads to controversy but I tell you very calmly: I had to express myself recently to tell you what happened. This is a subject that is closed. »
For eleven years and taking office at the head of the tricolor selection, the relationship of Didier Deschamps with Karim Benzema has been made of ups and especially downs. Despite his striker’s big crisis of confidence in front of goal with the Blues between 2012 and 2013 (1,222 minutes without scoring), the former AS Monaco coach had maintained his confidence in him at the time. He had made Benzema an indisputable holder, especially during the World Cup in Brazil. As he increasingly takes off at Real Madrid, the player will see his history with the selection interrupted due to the Mathieu Valbuena sextape affair which broke in October 2015.
A five-and-a-half-year ban
Deschamps and Benzema will then play cat and mouse. The coach will continue his journey without his striker, with a Euro final in 2016 and especially the 2018 World Cup which will crown the Blues. During this time, the striker will be chomping at the bit in Madrid, still chaining goals and trophies. However, Benzema does not remain unmoved by this situation and does not hesitate to send small spades to the coach. Posts on social networks, photo montages but also lapidary sentences like this famous “he gave in to a racist part of France”, pronounced in 2016 in Brand.
READ ALSOIs Karim Benzema the best French player in history? Sidelined for five and a half years, Karim Benzema will eventually find the international scene by being called up for Euro 2021. Faced with the recurring attacking problems of his team during this period, Didier Deschamps makes a concession by bringing back the banished who continues to chain high-level performances with Real. For some, this decision would even be political, with pressure from Emmanuel Macron. If on the ground, the five-time winner of the Champions League does the trick, his injury just before the 2022 World Cup will definitely close the chapter with the Blues.
It is now difficult to believe in a reconciliation, especially since the attacker has promised to reveal “his truth” about this hasty departure last November. In Le Figaro, Jean-Michel Aulas hoped that the two protagonists could make peace one day. “I wasn’t in Qatar at the time, I don’t know what happened. I really like the child from Lyon, Karim, so it’s tricky. But when there is a very great coach who almost won the World Cup twice and a very great player, the best with his Golden Ball, we all hope that they can work together. “We still have a hard time believing it today.