'Le Parisien': Benzema to be in Deschamps list for Euros

There is big news coming out of France with Karim Benzema's possible return to the France national team. In the last few hours, French media have basically taken for granted that the Real Madrid player will return to the French national team. 

'Le Parisien' goes even further than that and even confirms that the Real Madrid will be in the 26 man squad chosen by Didier Deschamps, despite the fact that there are still several hours to go until the official squad list is announced. 

It will be released at about 20:00 CEST this Tuesday. It is then expected that Benzema will return ahead of the Euros this summer. The Real Madrid forward has scored 27 goals in 81 caps for France.

The cited media outlet are not the only media outlet to report the news. 'L'Equipe' were the first to say that the 33 year-old striker could come back to the international set-up. He has been left out since Autumn 2015 when news of incidents involving him and Mathieu Valbuena came to light. 

8th October 2015, his last game for France

Benzema has not played for the national team since then. France beat Armenia 4-0 and Benzema got a brace. Griezmann and Valbuena were also in attack at that time. 

Since then, Deschamps has kept him out to keep "balance and harmony" in the group despite Benzema shining with his club. He had won three Champions Leagues in a row (2016, 2017 and 2018), but still kept getting left out. Benzema missed Euro 2016 which saw France come runners up on home turf and the 2018 World Cup in Russia which France won. 

If the news is confirmed, the former Lyon man will be returning after more than five and a half years away. Despite Deschamps reiterating in recent weeks that Benzema would still not play, it seems like there has been a change of heart.

Benzema's activity on social media

If that was not enough, Karim Benzema has started to follow the France national team on Facebook and edited his Twitter bio to include France as well as Real Madrid. The French national team have also decided to follow Benzema on both Twitter and Instagram.

 

May 18, 2021