With Karim Benzema having played no part of France's 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign, the 2022 Ballon d'Or winner's agent has hit back at national team head coach Didier Deschamps for his client's exclusion from the tournament.
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The 35-year-old was originally selected by Deschamps for the 26-man Les Bleus squad that looked to defend their World Cup crown in the Middle East, but had to leave France's training camp shortly before the tournament began because of an injury he sustained in training.
The Real Madrid star would not return to Qatar as France came within a penalty shootout of retaining their world champions status, but according to Benzema's agent Karim Djaziri, the striker was able to return to action for the competition's knockout phase.
"I consulted three specialists who confirmed the diagnosis that Benzema could have been fit from the last 16 to at least be on the bench," Djaziri wrote in a post seemingly directed at Deschamps on his official Twitter account.
"Why did you ask him to leave so quickly?"
The 35-year-old returned to the national team last year having fallen out with Deschamps initially in 2015 over an acrimonious blackmail scandal.
The forward missed France's 2016 UEFA European Championship campaign and 2018 FIFA World Cup victory as a result, but after returning to the fold in 2020, it seems the Lyon-born forward is not yet on good terms with the head coach.
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A day after France were beaten by Argentina in the final of the 2022 edition of the global showpiece, Benzema announced his retirement from international football, bringing to an end a tumultuous career with the two-time world champions in which he accrued 97 caps and scored 37 goals.
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