I am a football fanatic and a supporter of the Blues.
On December 1, 2015, guest of the morning of Europe 1, questioned about the case of the sextape for which Karim Benzema was indicted, I recalled that a great sportsman had to be exemplary because he was a reference for our youth. Otherwise, he had no place in the France team.
What had I not said! Storm in the world of football. That’s all that’s left of that interview. However, a few days after the terrible attacks of November 13, the climate was heavy, tense, worrying. For two hours, I talked about the terrorist risk or the progress of the Climate Conference.
Then… Karim Benzema. However, I did not claim to replace the coach of our national team. I expressed my feelings sincerely and like all French people, a few months before the Euro football tournament organized in our country, I dreamed of a beautiful French team freed from the ghosts of Knysna [du nom de la ville sud-africaine où s’est tenue la coupe du Monde 2010 de football, paroxysme de la crise qui a secoué l’équipe de France et dont l’un des épisodes majeurs est la grève des joueurs refusant de descendre du bus après l’exclusion de Nicolas Anelka, NDLR].
Since this declaration, I have been accused more or less by the player or his entourage of having exerted a form of pressure on the French Football Federation and the coach. Absurd. It was very bad to know Noël Le Graët and Didier Deschamps.
But their decisions have accredited the conspiracy thesis. The non-selection of Karim Benzema undoubtedly took place to sanction a behavior and a lack of solidarity towards his teammate Mathieu Valbuena. Deschamps has always been clear about his main mission: to help the team win but also to reconcile France with its Blues.
“By accusing Didier Deschamps of having given in to a ‘racist part’ of the country, claiming to suffer from an injustice linked to his origins, he was victimizing himself and breaking bridges”
The Real Madrid striker resented not being recalled, we can understand that when he won many titles with his club. But by accusing Didier Deschamps of having given in to a “racist part” of the country, claiming to suffer from an injustice linked to his origins, he was victimizing himself and breaking bridges. How can we be surprised then by the scandalous tags painted on the walls of the house of Didier Deschamps in Concarneau which deeply hurt our coach.
I like the universal, popular dimension of football. I know nothing of its symbolism. In 1998, we wanted to see in the victory of the black-white-beur team that of a France strong in its diversity. We were collectively wrong. The players, Zidane, Thuram and… Deschamps, were certainly diversity. But she stopped at the field. Convinced that France was like its football team, we locked ourselves in an illusion. The fall was brutal on October 8, 2001 during the friendly match between France and Algeria organized by Zinedine Zidane as a symbol of reconciliation. The Marseillaise whistled, a form of hatred was expressed towards France. Three years after the World Cup, football gave us the terrible image of a divided society. We still haven’t come out of it.
“I don’t regret any of my words. Karim Benzema has made no public apologies”
It will be necessary to wait twenty years, the victory of France at the 2018 World Cup, for the success of the Blues, Mbappé, Griezmann, Lloris, Pogba, Varane – an incredible generation – and coach Didier Deschamps to be looked at for what it is, the success of a football team with no other symbolic significance. And without the Madrid striker.
I don’t regret any of my words. Karim Benzema has made no public apology, he has an appointment this fall with justice several years after the fact. But he spoke with the coach, and he shone on the pitch in recent months. Didier Deschamps needs a powerful 9 to win the Euro. He demonstrates, magnanimously, that he knows how to give a very good player a second chance.
Karim Benzema has undoubtedly matured, my friend Fred Hermel, RMC correspondent in Madrid, talented biographer of Zidane, fan of Real and his number 9 is convinced of that. But let’s not be naive, the truth on the ground will not be enough. Benzema is a symbol that goes beyond him through his past statements. No one can ignore it, including the coach. It is also his attachment to the country whose colors he wears that will be observed. The return of Karim Benzema is not just a sporting affair. It is also a political and emotional affair. So it’s up to him to play.