From ‘Ballon d’Or to ‘Ballon de Lead’, L’Equipe headlines lament Madrid player missing World Cup due to injury
From Ballon d’Or to ‘Lead Ball’. Karim Benzema’s withdrawal from the World Cup due to a quadriceps injury in his left thigh is “a hard blow” for the French team in Qatar, according to his coach Didier Deschamps. “I am very sad for Karim who had made this World Cup an important goal. Despite this new hard blow, I have full confidence in my team. We will do everything we can to face this immense challenge that awaits us,” said the French coach in a statement. Les Bleus, the team that won the last World Cup, will face Australia on Tuesday.
“In my life I never give up, but tonight I have to think about the team as I always do, so the reason says I have to leave my position to someone who can help our team to have a nice World Cup. Thank you for all your support #Allez LesBlues,” the French star wrote on Instagram.
Benzema’s withdrawal caused a lot of reactions on social media. “We are with you, Karim,” the French team replied. “Strength,” Kylian Mbappé wrote on Instagram, accompanied by two emojis: a heart and praying hands. Other injured players, such as Presnel Kimpemche and Christopher Nkuku, also wanted to show their support for Benzema, as did Ousmane Dembélé.
Pierre Maturana, director of So Foot magazine, also believes that Benzema’s withdrawal from the World Cup is “a hard blow” for the French team. “He is clearly one of our best players and simply one of the best in the world,” Maturana explained to this newspaper, recalling that the French team suffered two other important losses in addition to Benzema, Paul Pogma and N’Golo. Kante.
“Rarely have I seen a team lose three essential starters for a game. Without forgetting a player in top form like Nkunku,” explains the director of So Foot, who believes that despite the bad news of the loss of Benzema, France still has a good team. “For example, the attack will be partly compensated by players who have won the World Cup: Mbappé, Griezmann and Giroud. And we can add a player like Dembélé, who is at full strength,” adds Maturana.
“Benzema. The lead ball”, headlines this Sunday on the front page of the sports newspaper L’Équipe, a play on words with the Ballon d’Or that the Real Madrid striker won this year.
“Karim Benzema comes from unforgettable weeks that made him live a childhood dream just before a player’s worst nightmare in his twilight, a wound like a stab at the dawn of his last gallop, this one that takes him to the heights of Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane, offering him a taste of world gold, which others captured without him four years ago,” writes Vicent Duluc, a journalist for L’Équipe.
“The World Cup has not started yet and he has already lost his Ballon d’Or,” explained the Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, who speaks of “bad luck” for Benzema, who will miss the World Cup at the age of 34.
For its part, the newspaper Le Parisien speaks of the “last sting” for the Bleus. The Paris newspaper believes Benzema’s absence from the team “will change everything”. “He was at the same time their best player, the most experienced, the most dangerous, the calmest in the life of the group, who had become more focused and more mature over time,” explains Le Parisien, who believes that ” without him, it’s not lost (the World Cup), but it’s a long way from being won.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
