Didier Deschamps Carlo Ancelotti Majed Al-Sorour Yazeed Al-Rajhi Darren Eales Russia Qatar France Spain New Zealand Saudi Arabia Pakistan parish St. James county Park cup Didier Deschamps Carlo Ancelotti Majed Al-Sorour Yazeed Al-Rajhi Darren Eales Russia Qatar France Spain New Zealand Saudi Arabia Pakistan parish St. James county Park

Ancelotti defends Benzema for not playing ahead of World Cup

arabnews.com

MADRID: Carlo Ancelotti defended Karim Benzema from accusations he is not playing with Real Madrid to be ready for the World Cup, saying Wednesday the France striker himself is upset about his lack of minutes going into Qatar.

The 34-year-old Benzema, who has been dealing with muscle fatigue, will miss his sixth straight start when Madrid host Cádiz in the Spanish league on Thursday.

It will be the club’s last match before the World Cup break. Ancelotti said it was “silly” for people to say Benzema was trying to preserve himself for the France national team. “It’s a small ailment, and Karim has tried to recover from it,” the Madrid coach said. “He is the first one who is frustrated with the situation, as he is entering the World Cup without the minutes he would have needed to be in better condition.” Since winning the Ballon d’Or for best player of the year three weeks ago, Benzema missed matches against Sevilla, Leipzig, Girona and Rayo Vallecano.

He played less than 30 minutes after coming off the bench in a 5-1 rout of Celtic in the group stage of the Champions League this month.

Related News
Kylian Mbappe scored twice, including a late winner, as holders France edged Denmark 2-1 on Saturday to become the first team to reach the last 16 of the World Cup.
France head coach Didier Deschamps has backed Kylian Mbappe to shine at the World Cup, labelling it "his competition" after the forward excelled in a comeback win over Australia. A number of injures rocked the France squad heading into the finals and they were stunned as Craig Goodwin opened the scoring after nine minutes before rallying to record a 4-1 win. Olivier Giroud scored twice to equal Thierry Henry's all-time record of 51 goals for France, while Adrien Rabiot and Mbappe were also on the scoresheet for the reigning world champions at Al Janoub Stadium. Mbappe, who hit four goals en route to helping France to win the 2018 World Cup, was named man of the match following the victory as Deschamps hailed the Paris St Germain ace. "Kylian of course has been one of the best players in the world for some time now and he is feeling very confident, you can see that in the way he is playing," he said. "I knew that he was going to be ready for this World Cup, it is his competition, he knows how to make the difference. "But he is part of a team and he has always been able to play as part of a team even though he is an individual, flair player as well. So that is great for us. I have got a lot of attackers, but Kylian is of course an outstanding one."
Olivier Giroud equalled France's all-time goalscoring record as his brace helped the holders recover from an early scare to make light work of Australia and begin their World Cup defence with a comfortable victory.
Olivier Giroud joined Thierry Henry as France's all-time leading goalscorer with a brace as holders France recovered to beat Australia 4-1 and get their defence of the World Cup off to a winning start Tuesday.

Latest News

Change privacy settings
This page might use cookies if your analytics vendor requires them.