The conviction of Karim Benzema on Wednesday November 24 in the “sextape affair” should not compromise the international future of the French striker, the centerpiece of the Blues version 2021 that the coach Didier Deschamps and the Federation cajole at one year of the World Cup.
The star striker of Real Madrid was found guilty on Wednesday of complicity in the attempted blackmail against his former team-mate Mathieu Valbuena and sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence and a € 75,000 fine. Even before knowing the judgment, which his lawyers announced to appeal, he nevertheless knew he was immune from any sporting sidelining.
Whatever happens, “Benzema will not be excluded in relation to a possible judicial sanction”, had warned the president of the French Football Federation Noël Le Graët on November 10 in the daily The Parisian. “Even if he receives a suspended prison sentence, he still has the possibility of appealing a conviction. So his summons, or not, in the coming months will not be linked to this judgment.”
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By returning the ball to Didier Deschamps, alone “consider whether, sportingly, he is fit to play with the Blues”, Noël Le Graët used a diplomatic formula to hand over to the coach of the France team, whose position he knows.
Anxious not to “not anticipate the decision” court, the boss of the French world champions had however indicated in early October that only the “sports choices” served as his compass. Difficult therefore to imagine depriving himself of the prolific striker, in the running for the prestigious Ballon d’Or awarded next Monday.
Because on the ground, Benzema transformed his surprise return to the Blues into a real success, despite a failed Euro last summer on a collective level. Humble and hardworking, discreet and efficient, the almost 34-year-old center-forward (he will have them on December 19) is in tune with the selection.
Above all, he put into practice what is his hallmark in Madrid: stacking goals. He scored nine in 13 matches played in Blue, including five in the last four, greatly helping the France team to win the League of Nations in October, then to qualify the following month for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“We all agree that his return was marked by his performances and his statistics. What he achieves is remarkable. He wants to continue his adventure in Blue, a World Cup it ‘ is a special moment. “
pointed out captain Hugo Lloris during the last meeting of the Bluesin press conference
Not selected in 2010, the top French scorer of the 2014 edition in Brazil (three goals) wants to play a second World Cup, in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, 2022, with the jersey of the reigning world champions on the back . From the top of his 94 caps (36 goals), the Lyon-born striker could even by then enter the closed circle of “centenarians” in the tricolor jersey, like Didier Deschamps or Zinédine Zidane, scoring a little more. story of a selection with which he has a thwarted relationship.
“The sextape affair” indeed kept him away from the Blues for more than five and a half years, with the trigger for his indictment for “complicity in attempted blackmail” against Mathieu Valbuena and “participation in an association of criminals “.
“Karim Benzema is no longer selectable until the situation evolves, until there is something new in this case“, Le Graët announced in December 2015. Four months later, the former OL was deprived of the Euro in 2016 by the FFF on behalf of “exemplarity” and of “the preservation of the group”. The striker had certainly dug the ditch by claiming that Deschamps had “surrendered to a racist part of France”. But the coach, always careful in his communication, had never expressed a final opinion. Le Graët’s speeches, on the other hand, were able to maintain a certain vagueness.
“Benzema is selectable, he is not suspended. If Didier (Deschamps) wants to take him, when he wants, he can”, he insisted in February 2017, regretting a justice “a little slow in this file”. But in November 2019, the door had closed. “The adventure in blue is over”. Two years later, this formula has aged.