France team: Didier Deschamps revisits the Benzema saga at the 2022 World Cup | OneFootball

Didier Deschamps - Karim Benzema

Appearing in court this Thursday as part of the defamation lawsuit against Daniel Riolo, Didier Deschamps revisited the Karim Benzema case at the 2022 World Cup.

This Thursday, Didier Deschamps, head coach of Les Bleus, was in court for the defamation case against Daniel Riolo. His aim was to address, point by point, the departure of Karim Benzema before the 2022 World Cup. "When we arrived at camp on November 14, 2022, after the medical exam, my doubts lingered. My job is to anticipate and call up a replacement, so I brought in Marcus Thuram in case Karim Benzema had any issues during camp." he began.

Deschamps then described a decisive conversation with the player: "I found myself facing a devastated player, and I understood. I tried to comfort him, talked with him, and asked: what do you think? He told me: it’s over. (...) Karim had already made up his mind that it was done. I didn’t have any tough decision to make. He had already decided. I was looking at someone who was resigned. Me, losing Karim Benzema as coach, do you think that makes me smile? He decided to leave because it was irreparable."

Deschamps also insisted he only learned about Benzema’s departure after the player had already left: "I got up around 9 a.m. and learned from Mr. Sanhadji that Karim was gone. I sent him a message when he arrived because I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye. He replied 20 minutes later. (...) To imagine that he could have been fit to play… I spoke with Karim after he left, he was on vacation on the islands, with his family, and he told me he was resting. When you read the words used about a player I supposedly kicked out of the base camp in the middle of the night, I don’t think he would have said those things."