The 34-year-old French striker won the 2022 Ballon d'Or and is expected to help the home team successfully defend the World Cup championship in Qatar. But on the day the 2022 World Cup opened tonight (November 20, Vietnam time), coach Didier Deschamps received the shock news that Benzema would have to be a reluctant target.
L'Equipe confirmed that Benzema suffered a new injury, he has pain in the quarter- muscles of his left leg, unlike the old pain. This injury came after he returned to practice with the French team. After careful photos and checks, doctors determined that the 34-year-old striker would not have the opportunity to participate in the World Cup.
This is truly a heavy blow to France's ambitions, having had to leave out players such as Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante, Presnel Kimpembe, Mike Maignan before finalizing the list and most recently Christopher Nkunku (when finalizing the list) due to injury.
Like Raphael Varane and Jules Kounde, they are also in doubt even though doctors say they can recover in time to attend the biggest football festival on the planet.
And without Benzema, Deschamps now have just one striker, Olivier Giroud of AC Milan. Giroud is 36 years old this year and is eager to score 2 more goals to equal former player Thierry Henry's record (51 goals) in the list of players with the most goals for the national team.
