MADRID, 20 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The France coach, Didier Deschamps, has announced this Sunday that he will not call up any player to take the place of striker Karim Benzema, who left the concentration after confirming that he suffers a rectus femoris injury.
“It’s a hard blow. Karim had done everything, so did we. He was in the session and with an almost innocuous gesture, he felt a muscle pain in the other leg. Unfortunately, the tests confirmed that the damage is too great compared to the deadlines that we have. Will he be substituted? No. We have seven or eight attacking players,” Deschamps confirmed to Telefoot.
Following injuries to midfielders Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kanté, France also lost Presnel Kimpembe and Christopher Nkunku after being called up to the tournament, but the biggest blow was yet to come when Benzema was forced to leave the camp after of not completing the training session on Saturday.
Alongside 2018 World Cup winners Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembelé, France can call on Kingsley Coman, Randal Kolo Muani and Marcus Thuram as attacking options.
Benzema has not had continuity this season at Real Madrid, missing almost half of the games first due to a knee injury and later due to muscle fatigue. Deschamps insists that France’s medical staff should not be blamed for his latest injury. “I know that you are looking for controversy, but everything possible has been done. We had already lost Christopher, but we have a goal, the group knows very well what awaits us. We have a quality group. I have confidence in them,” he said.
Elsewhere, Deschamps was more optimistic about Raphaël Varane’s fitness, guaranteeing the Manchester United defender “will be available” for Tuesday’s Group D opener against Australia.
