This Saturday he returned to training with his teammates and the coach, Didier Deschamps, had also included him among the starters in the preparatory exercises. But Benzema, famous for taking care of his body like gold, felt a sharp pain in his left leg, at the level of the femur. Nothing to do with the discomforts experienced up to that moment, which triggered the alarms in the concentration. The player limped away and was immediately transferred to a prestigious clinic in Doha where he underwent an MRI scan which confirmed his suspicions: “femoral injury requiring a three-week convalescence”, according to the official press release from the French Football Federation (FFF). Benzema will leave Qatar with immense pain, because it was his second opportunity to shine in a World Cup, after missing the one in Russia, where he was dismissed from the team over allegations of complicity in blackmail.
the selector, Didier Deschamps, who regretted his absence and has assured that he will do everything to make up for it, has until next Monday, the eve of his debut against Australia, to call up Benzema’s replacement. Among the names that play is that of the former Sevilla Wissam Ben Yedderbut also other names, such as Anthony Martial, Moussa Diaby or Atlético de Madrid player Thomas Lemar.
For France, Benzema’s absence is another hard blow, after those of Ngolo Kanté and Paul Pogba before concentration e Presnel Kimpembe and by the attacker Christopher Mralready in the list formed, who were replaced by Axel Disasi and Kolo Muani respectively.
But the loss of Benzema weighs more, due to the good performance that the Ballon d’Or was doing with the French team, in which he had become a fundamental piece of Deschamps’ team as an offensive partner with Kylian Mbappe. After three and a half years of absence, the coach lifted his veto before the last Euro Cup, in which he began to reveal himself as an important figure in the team, parallel to the great performances he was signing with Real Madrid.
