Karim Benzema scored his 71st C1 goal against Chelsea on April 27, 2021. – Bernat Armangue / AP / SIPA
- Part of the Spanish press demanded the return of Benzema to the France team after his new masterclass against Chelsea in the Champions League.
- A question that reopens the debate in France, where the media followers of the Blues do not even dare to question Didier Deschamps on the subject.
A goal from elsewhere against Chelsea, out of time, and an artistic performance to pass Pablo Picasso for a house painter (no offense), this is what was enough to relaunch the debate on the presence of Karim Benzema in the France team in the more or less near future. And not only in Spain, where everyday life Marca, in his inimitable stylistic excess, calls Didier Deschamps to “stop crime”, but also in France,
on the set of L’Equipe du Soir more precisely.
After the Maestro recital on Tuesday evening, which at the same time became the fourth highest scorer in the history of the Champions League (71 achievements), the former number 10 Johan Micoud wondered: “He [Deschamps] is not obliged to accept the debate, but we have the right to continue asking the question, right? “
💥Benzema scorer so obviously we are talking about the case of the French striker! 💥
“Me, I do not understand, abroad they do not also understand” @Nabil_djellit about not selecting @Benzema in the French team for more than 5 years. 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/BikpIiHyXO
– THE EVENING TEAM (@lequipedusoir) April 27, 2021
“To pose the debate, that seems fair to me”
As in his heyday at Werder, the former midfielder is on target. Indeed, it is not so much to know if Benzema has the level to lead the attack of the Blues – that everyone agrees – or if Deschamps must call him back to play the next Euro – we know that it will not happen. not – but rather to discuss our legitimacy to us, the media, supporters, citizens, to continue to put this subject on the table, even if the coach does not want to hear any more about it.
“To ask the question, to pose the debate, that seems right to me, it must be done, slice the pen of L’Equipe Vincent Duluc. There is no point in asking Deschamps “are you going to take it?”, On the other hand it is useful to say that with what he does, he deserves to be there. Those are two different things. “
What our colleague says is both right and terrible. Just because by dint of asking him the question in conf and seeing himself systematically sent back to the ropes – with each time a new verbal pirouette -, Didier Deschamps has (almost) succeeded in his bet, that of making this question a taboo in the middle. In fact, it’s been a while since the journalists dropped the case. The last to have asked the question is our colleague from RMC Loïc Briley, in August, taking advantage of Adrien Rabiot’s surprise return to the France team despite his whim of the last Euro to put a piece back in the jukebox. That day, Deschamps chose the humor card: “Oh, this one is well, Magnificent! “.
And then ? And then nothing, as usual. No substantive answer since an update in Nagui’s documentary at the end of 2019. “It’s a sporting choice, period! I think it’s not a good thing for the France team ”. An assertion that is both indisputable, the Blues having been world champions in 2018 without him, and tendentious: who can think that Benzema would not bring anything to the Blues if we selected him tomorrow?
The media dropped the topic
However, and this is terrible there too, we, journalists who follow the France team, have almost accepted this state of affairs. How did we get to a point where, because the coach of the France team decided that there was no debate, there is no debate? On the contrary, the debate is there, every day, on each café terrace (well… you get the idea) or in the queue in the morning at the bakery. In recent consultation organized by the Team website, for example, the 280,000 voters easily sent Benzema to the Euro, with Giroud, Mbappé, and Grizou. And then without making crates on the fifth power and all the noise, it’s our job.
Even Raphaël Varane, yet not in the best position to give a clear opinion on the issue, he who is torn between the desire to play in Blue with his friend from Real and his duty of obedience to the one who made him the captain of this team of France, abounds in our direction.
Asked about the subject during a videoconference before the match against Ukraine, in April, the Madrid defender said he found “normal and logical” that the press continues again and again to set foot in the dish. In DD’s mind, it nevertheless seems certain that French journalists have understood the message. So, when a colleague from Kazakhstan tried his hand at where the rest of us gave up, Deschamps laughed and asked him if it was a journalist from our region who had asked him the question. Well no, not even. Quite simply because apart from him and Noël Le Graët, the whole world (of football) is wondering how it is possible that one of the best strikers in the world is banned for life from (re) playing for his country.
Once again, the merits of the matter do not matter. We can judge that Benzema has overstepped the bounds and that his attitude of systematic denial of his responsibilities in the case of the “sextape” does not help, as we can judge that a line has been crossed with the racist insults on the coach’s vacation home, there’s no need to put everything back on the table. But in the end, the best player in the world in 2021 or not far will not play the Euro, and his name will float in the air at best like that of an old dissident erased from the official memory of the regime at the time of the election. announcement from the list. It’s sad, isn’t it?