Benzema, during a solo session at Valdebebas in 2015. – PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP
- Karim Benzema’s last match for the France team dates back to October 8, 2015, during a France-Armenia match in Nice.
- Five years and eight months later, it is in the same Allianz Riviera that the Madrilenian will make his comeback in Blue, against Wales, on Wednesday night.
- In the meantime, Benzema took the opportunity to immerse himself in work and become the super athlete he is today.
It is said that one sees his life scrolling fast in front of his eyes just before dying. And before being reborn, then, what do we see? It will be necessary to ask the question to Karim Benzema on Wednesday evening, at the stroke of 11 p.m., when the ghost will have set foot on the lawn of the Allianz Riviera with the jersey of the France team on his back, five years and eight months after his last match in Blue. It was already in Nice, fate is sometimes facetious. “The first match against Wales, it’s going to make me weird,” he announced in The team the day of the reunion at the castle on May 25.
Perhaps he will see pass before his eyes these endless days spent alone (or almost) on the side of Madrid, when the entire workforce flew to other countries to play for the selection. “It was difficult, especially at the beginning […] Difficult because, at each international meeting, 25 players out of 26 went to the selection and I trained with the reserve, with the young people, ”he confided to our colleagues.
Benzema and the 5 C theory
This evil of selection, this forced loneliness when friends are traveling, the former assistant to Aimé Jaquet, Henri Emile, understands them very well. “I knew another great player of the selection, whose name I will keep silent today, who spoke to me about the difficulty it is to have known international gatherings and suddenly find yourself alone to train during the week when the friends are gone, he says. Because we’re not talking about three or four days, eh, but ten or even fifteen! I can tell you that he must have found the time long. Once you’ve done two jogs and a tennis ball with the kids, good… ”.
Not selected for Euro 2016 after his legal quarrels following the so-called “Valbuena sextape” affair, Benzema quickly realized that the exclusion he thought was temporary could last much longer than expected. The Lyonnais quickly made up his mind. “I quickly told myself that it was an obstacle that was part of my career, I could not give up. It didn’t want to enter my head, I knew it was going to turn out. I always think this way. “
For the former Le Havre trainer Denis Troch, who is now converted into mental coaching, the Benz has opted for the “5 C” theory: “It’s stupid but that’s how it is”. Explanation: “The idea is simple: To hold out in this kind of situation against which we can do nothing, or almost, either we lock ourselves in and let go, or we bounce back and try to give meaning to our actions”. Benzema will opt for the second solution, as he told The team : “It was in those moments that I became even stronger mentally and physically. I started to do more than the others. And too bad if for that it is necessary to accept to put away its pride and to go down the ranks with the kids of Castilla. On arrival, the work paid off.
“He is someone who leaves nothing to chance”
“He has matured, it may be a bit late but it is an indisputable fact that he took advantage of these difficult years to become even better today, analyzes the former assistant to Roger Lemerre in 2000. I have the impression that this period allowed him to understand that to be a great footballer, basic qualities are not enough. He took better into account all the invisible part of the preparation and integrated the idea that his body was his working tool. “And this is how, a few months after being ostracized from the France team, Benzema decides to call on Nicolas Saint-Maurice, alias” Coach Nic “, a Canadian physical trainer based in Dubai and who takes care of many high level footballers.
“It was not always easy for Karim”, he immediately asks, recalling those periods when, in addition to the heartbreak linked to the lack of selection, Benzema had to fight against those who , in Madrid, believed he would never succeed in taking the leadership left vacant by CR7’s departure from Juve. “But he hung on, he redoubled his efforts, he is a very serious, hyper-disciplined guy, a great professional and we can see the result,” said Saint-Maurice today. Over the course of his four years of collaboration, “Coach Nic” has seen Benzema transform physically and mentally before his eyes. Instead of dropping the case, as his relatives encouraged – seeing that Deschamps did not recall him – Benzema did even more.
“Yet Dubai is very tempting, smiles his sports coach. We quickly came to train there and finally change our plans, go out, go to the beach, party. But with Karim, that never happens. Even if he went out a little in the evening, in the morning he was there exactly on time and motivated to make an effort, ”assures the Canadian.
“To give you an idea,” concludes Saint-Maurice, “last June, when he was going on vacation to the Maldives, he called me to ask me if he could come and do two days of work with me. Same on the way back, he made a detour here to get back on his feet. This is a good example of Karim’s discipline for several years. He is someone who leaves nothing to chance and, even if he knew he would not go to the France team, he was working hard to achieve his goals at the club. “Hoping deep down that the routourne will end up turning around one day.