Karim Benzema, 33, has received his first call-up for Les Bleus in six years since he was included in their team for Euro 2020 this week.
Recalling Karim Benzema to the France national team is the coach’s choice
Former France star Mathieu Valbuena has insisted that he has no hard feelings with Didier Deschamps for recalling Karim Benzema to the national squad. Benzema, 33, has received his first call-up for Les Bleus in six years since he was included in their team for Euro 2020 this week. The Real Madrid star was previously dropped due to serious allegations against him and Valbuena. “If Benzema can bring more to the French national team, it’s good for him. It will be on the pitch that it will be played,” the player explained to reporters when asked about Benzema’s inclusion. “It is the coach’s choice. For me, Didier will be the winner in all cases. If the French national squad works, we will say that he was able to adapt, and if it fails, we will not blame him.”
Valbuena have fun in the pitch
“Didier knows how to make his lists. He’s brilliant about that. Did he call me to tell me about his decision with Karim Benzema? No, I don’t expect anything from Deschamps, nothing from anyone. Today I make my life, and I have fun in the pitch. So I have no further comments.” The former Marseille star also saw his international career end up following a scandal that unfolded around an alleged blackmail plot engineered by Karim Benzema involving a sex tape. In early 2021, nearly six years after Benzema’s initial arrest, French authorities announced that the case would be brought to trial. And Mathieu Valbuena, now 36 and still playing for Olympiacos, admits he was upset with the way his France exit was handled.
“In 2016, Didier called me to say that I was not taken to EURO 2016 for sporting reasons. I would have preferred to be dismissed for sporting reasons,” Valbuena added. “The French national team is something extraordinary, and which accepted me a lot. When you represented the France national team, it’s hard to accept that.”