French footballers Karim Benzema and Olivier Giroud have been seated together during meals after the French national team’s training sessions at Clairefontaine. What’s so unusual about two footballers sitting together you ask? Well, there’s a backstory here. Benzema, who is well-known for his exploits with Real Madrid, has not been very kind to Giroud who was France’s lead striker for many years. Giroud’s emergence as a marksman came at a time when Benzema was left out of the national side for six years over his alleged involvement in an attempt to blackmail Matthieu Valbuena, former France footballer, in a sex tape scandal.
According to a report in Daily Mail, France manager Didier Deschamps decision regarding the seating plan has put Benzema in an awkward position during meals at the French training base. Benzema will be seating next to Chelsea star Giroud, as well as Antoine Griezmann, Lucas Hernandez, Benjamin Pavard , Leo Dubois, Raphael Varane and Hugo Lloris.
Benzema, who was a surprise inclusion in the France team, may have to work on smoothing his equation with Giroud after taking a swipe at him a few years ago. In March 2020, during one of his Twitter Q&A sessions with fans, Benzema had compared Giroud’s skills with Go-kart while calling himself with Formula 1 car.
When a fan asked about Giroud, Benzema had said, “This won’t take long. You don’t confuse F1 with go-karting. And I’m being kind. Next… and I know I’m F1.”
The comments caused quite a stir in the footballing world and certainly so in France. Benzema though refused to take back his comments and asserted that “it was just truth”.
Giroud did hit back and said that the unfair criticism had hurt him. He added that he continued to prove his place in the team with performance and this rivalry between him and Benzema was created by some people without any base.
Benzema has had huge success at the club level with Real Madrid. He has won the Champions League four times and the La Liga thrice during his stay in the Spanish capital. He, however, was not part of the France side which won the 2018 World Cup. Giroud was a key player in the national squad in 2018.
Benzema’s return to the national side gives a huge boost to France’s prospects in the Euros this month.
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