It’s almost back to school for the France team. At the Orange Vélodrome on March 25 and then at the Stade Pierre Mauroy four days later, the Blues will face Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa respectively. Two friendly matches already having the appearance of a dress rehearsal before going to defend a title of world champion in Qatar at the end of the year. Important deadlines in which Karim Benzema (34) will not take part, sparkling in the jersey of Real Madrid but injured left calf and therefore forfeited. To compensate for his absence, Didier Deschamps has decided to recall Olivier Giroud, absent since the last Euro. In a press conference on Monday, the coach of the Blues also returned to his choice to summon, again, the current scorer of AC Milan, while specifying that he will not reserve for the former striker of the Blues a specific treatment.
“The most important thing for me is to keep a line of conduct, to be consistent, to be fair in relation to the discourse I have with the players and that is the case. Olivier (Giroud) will join us, he does not have to do more or less, he was part of this successful team, it was also without him, he is a player who remained selectable, he is part of this list of 23, it’s linked to Karim’s injury but don’t ask me about the future, he’s part of the group he knows well or even very well, I’m not going to pay more attention to him than to another”, he first conceded. Relaunched on the subject, Deschamps then made it clear that this great comeback was not a direct consequence of the absence of Karim Benzema, or at least that the fate of the two French scorers was not intimately linked. No, for the former OM coach, it’s more a question of status.
Olivier Giroud no longer has the same status for Didier Deschamps!
“It’s not a relationship between the two, there’s competition, it’s not if it’s Karim Benzema, it’s not Olivier, it goes further than that, from history, when a player has a status that he deserves to have if he doesn’t always have this status, it’s very difficult to live with, it’s even impossible, it’s not specific to Olivier, there have been others before, it’s human, it’s hard to live with, it’s become a given for him, he deserved it, but then it’s hard to live with if you lose this status”. An important status for many years for the one who scored 46 goals in 110 selections, which would therefore be the cause of difficult management and the last reluctance of Deschamps to summon him. A point on which the latter insisted.
“He had a status, he had it for many years but that does not mean that he no longer has it. It’s not related to Karim, Kylian, X or Y, it’s in relation to its use and playing time. It’s not related to others, it’s in relation to the choices I make on the offensive plan. He allowed the France team to have very good results. If we can summon him and leave him on the bench? Yes, but I consider, through experience, human experience, it’s very difficult for a player who has had status to have less. That’s what I think. It’s hard psychologically. Imagine, you have a status in a box and instead of playing the Sunday night game, you’re going to play the game that no one is watching, well you’re going to do it, but you’re going to have a bad time (laughs). There you understand? (laughs) It’s more striking”. Finally assuring that his return would not change “his plans on the ground”Didier Deschamps finally hinted that Olivier Giroud’s recent absences could be justified by a desire to preserve a player’s ego.
Olivier Giroud is called up to the Blues to replace Karim Benzema, package. #ProudToBeBlues https://t.co/LmWjTCG2bK
— French team ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) March 19, 2022