The French striker Karim Benzema He left the door open to play in the 2026 World Cup with the Blues, four years after his international retirement following an injury that kept him from playing in Qatar and brought him into conflict with the coach again. Didier Deschamps.
“If they call me to the national team, I’ll come back,” said the former player of the Real Madrid in an interview published this Thursday ‘The Team‘, in which he asks: “Who doesn’t want to play in a World Cup?”
He feels “a competitor”
Benzema37 years old and currently in the Al-Ittihadassures that he feels like “a competitor” and as such he could not refuse to compete in a competition like the World Cup, which he lost in 2018 due to a legal matter and four years later due to a knee injury. last minute.
That episode further clouded the relationship with Deschampswho criticized that the player abandoned the concentration of France in Qatar but he will immediately start training with him Madrid. Weeks later, Karim announced that he was ending his international career.
The player refused to evaluate those events, which he considered “finished” and said he did not want to “fuel the controversy.”
The story of Benzema with the French team it has been marked by more shadows than lights. Debutant in 2007, he left the list of Deschamps in 2015 when his name appeared associated with a case of blackmail with a sex video of his partner Matthew Valbuenafor which he was finally convicted as an accomplice.
Read also
In 2021 he returned to the national team thanks to his good performances with the Real Madridwon the Nations League and scored four goals in the Euro Cup that could not prevent the elimination of France in the round of 16. Little by little, his weight in the team decreased due to the emergence of a new generation led by Kylian Mbappébut he was part of those called up for the 2022 World Cup, which he could not compete due to an injury.
