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the big comeback of Karim Benzema among the Blues?

Published on : 18/05/2021 – 13:48Modified : 18/05/2021 – 14:04

A few hours before the announcement of the 26 Blues who will participate in Euro-2021, the French press announced Tuesday the return to the group of Karim Benzema, star striker of Real Madrid and not selected since 2016.

The great reconciliation before the Euro football? A few hours before the announcement by coach Didier Deschamps of his list for the Euro (June 11-July 11), Tuesday May 18 around 8:20 p.m. (Paris time), the Team and Le Parisien affirm that the Madrid striker Karim Benzema could join the French group for European competition.

Five and a half years after his 81st and last selection, the Real Madrid player has never seemed so close to reconnecting with his eventful history with the Blues of Didier Deschamps, put on hold since the emergence of the affair of ” sextape “by Mathieu Valbuena at the end of 2015.

According to the daily Le Parisien and the radio Europe 1, Karim Benzema “should appear” in the list of Didier Deschamps, unveiled with great fanfare Tuesday evening on TF1 and M6, the broadcasters of the French matches during the Euro.

The secret remains nevertheless well kept until the last minute: the staff of the France team met on Tuesday morning at the headquarters of the Federation to determine the names of the lucky ones. The night before, they had received the final medical data supposed to evacuate the last doubts about the physical condition of the world champions.

Forgotten phrases from before Euro-2016?

The summons of Karim Benzema, if it occurs, will have the effect of a thunderclap on the football planet: the case of the former Lyonnais, 33, has not been a subject for many months, Didier Deschamps is systematically refusing to mention the player with 27 goals in Blue during his press conferences.

But he has never, either, officially excluded the hypothesis of a return of his favorite striker of the World Cup-2014, despite the few provocations sent here and there by the Madrilenian over his five years of disgrace.

The debate has in any case panicked social networks since the night of Monday to Tuesday, and promises masterful hearings at TF1 and M6, which have also just announced their next merger project … And this, especially since Kylian Mbappé will also be invited by TF1 during his newscast.

This would mean that between the coach and the striker, everything is now forgiven while the latter accused a few days before Euro-2016 Didier Deschamps of having “yielded to the pressure of a racist part of France”, in an interview with Marca. Words that had stuck in the throat of the coach who offered his second world champion star to France.

A list built around the “hard core” of the Blues

But Karim Benzema will not be the only one to wait impatiently to see Didier Deschamps grow his list of names.

Forty other contenders apply, but the boss of the Blues will not be able to take everyone to Munich and Budapest, the two destinations of the first round. Its list will include at least 23 players and, at most, 26, in accordance with the largesse granted by UEFA at the end of a very dense season and largely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

If the media intervention of “DD” is eagerly awaited, the final list will not be transmitted until June 1, the deadline set by UEFA. In the meantime, the ball will continue to spin and the risk of injury will exist. For this reason, Didier Deschamps will be able to draw up a list of “substitutes”, or “reservists”, who can be mobilized in the event of a physical problem among the group initially selected.

Barring injury, therefore, the “hard core” dear to the coach of the reigning world champions and vice-champions will include, around goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris, regulars Benjamin Pavard, Raphaël Varane, Lucas Hernandez, N’Golo Kanté, Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann.

Will Olivier Giroud be on the trip? At 34, the second highest scorer in the history of the Blues (44 goals in 107 matches) presents the unique profile of a hardworking center forward and rarely disappointing under the tricolor tunic. But his playing time at Chelsea is almost zero.

The possible reunion with Karim Benzema, who recently compared it to a “karting” as opposed to the “F1” that the Madrilenian thinks to be, promises to be electric in any case.

With AFP

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