Already in trouble with his right thigh, the Golden Ball injured his left quadriceps this Saturday. His participation in the World Cup is hanging by a thread.
It’s almost over. For his very first training session in almost a month, since he has been quietly lining up the laps since his arrival in Qatar, following “the care protocol”, according to the tricolor staff, Karim Benzema did not hold. This Saturday, the striker felt pain in his left quadriceps, according to the management of the Blues. It is his right thigh that has kept him away from the field since the beginning of the month, Benzema having played in all and for all 26 minutes of play since October 19 with his club Real Madrid.
According the team, the attacker had to undergo an MRI in the evening to determine the severity of his injury. If he is already forfeited for the entry into the running of the Blues on Tuesday against Australia, the result seems to be compromised to say the least: now injured in the left leg, the striker of the Blues was still in trouble with the right. Two muscle injuries, for which remission requires a lot of rest and time.
Risk of parasitizing the group
Before Saturday’s turn of events, the presence of Benzema in the tricolor group already raised questions, none of the players questioned – Lucas Hernandez, Adrien Rabiot or even Aurélien Tchouaméni – already seeming very reassured about the prospects of the recent Ballon d’or. However, taking an injured player into competition has never brought luck to the Blues in the more or less recent past. Zinédine Zidane in South Korea 2002, Marcel Desailly (who had nevertheless held his place by gritting his teeth, and had appeared in great difficulty) during the Portuguese Euro 2004 and Patrick Vieira during the Austro-Swiss European Championship of 2008 had considerably hampered the smooth running of the group and parasitized the atmosphere by sparking debates on their possible return.
It is therefore not impossible that the coach of the Blues, Didier Deschamps, took a forbidden direction by taking the Madrid star to Qatar. Afterwards, as Rabiot explained on Friday: “Karim is a special case.” But his body is subject to the same rules as ordinary mortals.