565 days after he was included again in the list of France’s first football team, following his famous crisis, Karim Benzema decided to retire from international football, a day after his country lost the 2022 World Cup final against Argentina.
Benzema, 35, published, through his official accounts on social media, a picture of him in the French national team shirt, commenting: I made efforts and mistakes until I reached where I am today and I am proud of that. He added: I wrote my story and its end.
Benzema announced the end of his international career on Monday
The Real Madrid striker, who won the 2022 Ballon d’Or, missed the World Cup in Qatar due to injury, as he had to leave the “Roosters” camp two days before France’s first match in the finals.
The decision to exclude Benzema from the French camp sparked many reactions, and media reports touched on the existence of a crisis between him and coach Didier Deschamps, who preferred not to continue and asked him to leave the camp.
And the story began in the last period, when Benzema was preparing for the second World Cup in his professional career after the 2014 Brazil Finals, when he was injured in the evening training session, and the next morning the French Football Federation announced his exclusion from the list of the national team in the World Cup.
The French striker in his last training session in Doha
Benzema said through his official accounts on social networks: I have never given up in my life, but tonight I have to think about the team as I always do, and I have to leave my place for someone who can help our team achieve the World Cup, and thank you for all the messages of support.
Despite the exclusion of Benzema, Deschamps announced in a press conference that he would not call a substitute for the Real Madrid star, and would be satisfied with those on the list, and added: I am very sad for Karim, who made the World Cup a big goal for him.
The new story of Benzema began with Deschamps this time, when he returned to Real Madrid’s training in mid-December, and appeared in full readiness and recently participated in friendly matches with the Spanish capital club.
The French striker aspired to lead his country in the World Cup, especially since he missed 9 of the last 15 matches for Real Madrid in order to reach the best readiness in the global wedding.
After suffering a muscle injury before the World Cup, Benzema went to spend a vacation on Reunion Island, before returning to Real Madrid’s preparations for the remaining matches after the World Cup. In the third round: you are looking for things here. These things do not concern me, I do not know who said what, where and why.
A previous picture of Deschamps and Benzema
And he continued: I discussed with Karim after his departure, you all know his condition and the time it takes for him to recover from the injury. I only care about the players here.
On the same day that France faced England in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, Benzema returned to Real Madrid’s training and participated fully in the training session.
The first spark erupted inside the “Roosters” camp on December 19, when the Spanish newspaper “Marca” said that Deschamps had not been patient with Benzema, who was able to participate with the national team in the round of 16, and that he would have reached the required readiness early this month, and the evidence is that he returned To Madrid in perfect condition.
The newspaper added: Deschamps did not give Benzema more patience, and he could have dealt with Benzema’s situation in a completely different way.
A picture circulated of Benzema after his arrival in Qatar
The “Marca” report came days after the report published by the French “L’Equipe”, which indicated that striker Karim Benzema’s departure from the French national team camp due to his injury made the team more “free and united” and contributed to increasing positive feelings within the team.
And “L’Equipe” pointed out that Mbappe became happy after he became the de facto leader of the national team, and pressure was placed on him, and Giro was relieved to ensure his basic presence, just as Marcus Thuram, who was close to him, did not receive Benzema upon his return from the examinations, and there are no feelings of sadness due to his absence.
After France’s victory over Morocco in the semi-finals, Deschamps surprised those present at the press conference, when he was asked about the possibility of Benzema joining the team’s list in the final, and the French coach replied with “regret”, saying: I prefer to move on to the next question.
Benzema refused the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, who wanted to accompany a number of French players who missed the World Cup due to injury, to attend the final against Argentina.
Karim published a picture of him through his official accounts, and wrote: I am not interested.
Zidane handed Benzema the Golden Ball award
And he re-published a picture of him while he was winning the Golden Ball with Zidane, knowing that the latter refused to accept Macron’s invitation to attend the final.
L’Equipe also claimed that the relationship between Benzema and the technical staff led by Deschamps was tense, and there was no communication between them, in addition to that the attacker was angry at the medical staff for dealing with his injury, and blamed Deschamps for the arduous training session that preceded his injury a day.
The French newspaper also reported that Benzema wanted to stay in Qatar to recover from the injury and be in the advanced roles, but Deschamps did not want that, and asked him to leave as soon as possible.
Before his return in June 2021, Benzema had been absent from his country’s national team since 2015, in the wake of the famous extortion scandal, and he said in 2016 when Deschamps excluded him from the European Cup list that the coach succumbed to the pressure of “racists” in France.
Benzema began his international career in 2007 and participated in the European Championships in 2008 and 2012 as well as the 2014 World Cup, but he missed the next two major tournaments due to the extortion scandal and disagreements with Deschamps, and scored 37 goals in 97 international matches.