Lucas Digne will not have taken long to relapse. The left-back of the France team made his return to the lawns of the Premier League on Saturday afternoon during the trip from Aston Villa to the lawn of Wolverhampton. Three weeks after his premature exit in the 10th minute at West Ham, the French international (44 caps) again left the field shortly before the quarter-hour mark, holding his left thigh. He was replaced by Ashley Young who was guilty of an own goal which unfortunately cost the Villans dearly, losing two goals to one. The Birmingham club has not yet communicated the duration of a possible unavailability of the Frenchman.
If the embarrassment felt against West Ham in mid-March had deprived Digne of the shock against Arsenal the following weekend, the 28-year-old player had nevertheless been selected by Didier Deschamps for the two friendlies in March. He had not stepped on the lawn against Côte d’Ivoire (2-1) but had been able to play the whole match against South Africa (5-0) and had rather shown himself in good shape, at the image of his numerous overflows punctuated by dangerous crosses from his left lane. The full-back even offered himself two clear scoring chances.
Benzema signs a brace for his return
He was the big absentee from the last gathering of the Blues due to a left calf injury. But Karim Benzema made a strong comeback with his club Real Madrid on Saturday afternoon. The captain of the Merengue offered a precious victory to the leader of the Spanish championship on the lawn of Celta Vigo (2-1) by converting two penalties out of the three he shot during the meeting.
A double that reassures the French striker plagued by several physical glitches since December. The latest had notably forced him to attend from the stands of the Santiago Bernabeu the heavy defeat of Madrid in the Clasico against FC Barcelona (0-4). Benzema should, however, be present for the next big deadline for Real Madrid: a trip to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening to face Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.