MADRID — France forward
Karim Benzema was absent from
Real Madrid’s training session on Wednesday, hours before Didier Deschamps announces
his World Cup squad, an AFP journalist witnessed.
اضافة اعلان
Ballon d’Or winner
Benzema has missed four games due to a thigh problem with Les Bleus coach
Deschamps naming his 26-man list at 1900GMT later on Wednesday.
“He has not been
able to come back from this little irritation, it is nothing major,” Real
Madrid coach
Carlo Ancelotti told reporters.
“He has tried, but
it has not been possible,” he added.
Benzema has only
featured in three of Madrid’s last nine league games, because of a thigh injury
and then muscle fatigue.
The forward’s only
appearance since September 19 has been a cameo off the bench against Celtic in
the Champions League.
Ancelotti defended
Benzema against accusations that the former is putting France’s World Cup bid
ahead of his club, who have fallen behind in the title race.
They are in second
spot, five points behind rivals Barcelona, although they have a game in hand to
play against Cadiz on Thursday.
“(The criticism) is
nonsense, he had a problem, which wasn’t serious, because he didn’t stop, he’s
carried on training individually,” said Ancelotti.
“Karim is the one
who’s most disappointed with the situation, because he arrives at the World Cup
with the
Ballon d’Or, but without the minutes in his legs needed to be up to
speed.”
“He has never
thought his World Cup has been in danger. Really, they are very small issues.”
Deschamps, who
guided France to the 2018 title, is already without injured midfielders Paul
Pogba and N’Golo Kante.
Experienced
center-back Raphael Varane will not feature before the World Cup for his club
Manchester United due to a thigh problem but has not been ruled out of the
competition.
Deschamps’ side
start the defense of their title on November 22 against Australia, before also
playing Denmark and Tunisia in Group D.
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