The former France striker accused the Les Bleus coach of "bowing to pressure from a racist part of France" for not selecting him for the national side.
World Cup-winning France coach Didier Deschamps has launched a scathing attack on Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema during an interview with French radio during which he accused the 31-year-old of “crossing a line” for accusing him of latent racism after being omitted from the Les Bleus squad for Euro 2016 on home soil.
Benzema has not featured for France since 2015 with Deschamps pointing to squad harmony amid the fallout from the Mathieu Valbuena sex tape scandal, in which Benzema found himself embroiled, as the reason for the striker’s exile. However, Benzema said at the time that Deschamps had “caved in to pressure from a racist part of France” in leaving him out of the squad, something that Deschamps vehemently denied in an interview with Europe 1, saying that the accusation “hurt a lot” and represented a “point of no return” in his relationship with the striker.
Deschamps: "I can never forget" Benzema accusations
“Some people can give speeches that can have consequences that go beyond any form of understanding, and I can never forget that,” Deschamps said. “At that moment I considered that a line had been crossed. I pick French players, all of them are French and it has never occurred to me to not select someone based on their colour or religion. And in the same way the other way around, I would never pick someone based on the same criteria, because that would just as bad or worse.”
The relationship between Deschamps and Benzema has been unworkable since the Les Bleus coach decided to leave him out of the squad for his alleged involvement in the Valbuena scandal. Benzema has not played for France since and vented his frustration at France Football Federation president Noel Le Graët after he backed Deschamps decision to omit him from the squad that triumphed at the World Cup in Russia last summer.
Trevorn
98
So in other words he prefers to have giroud run 90 minutes up and down the football pitch without having a big impact on the game? rather than playing Benzema, who is a boss when it comes to building and creating plays for his teammates? Yes what he said was inappropriate but I'm sure he has already apologise for his actions.Benzema is already 31 and the fact that he stated that he "isn't ready to forgive Benzema" means that he would no longer play for France which is sad. Benzema deserves better💯👌
Gabrieljackson
80
it's safe to say benzema will never play for France again
zeoabilmyz
68
Learn to forgive and forget , that's what life is all about , none is perfect , withholding grudges is a disease.
RealMd13
67
I can never forget - Deschamps not ready to forgive Benzema Me: 💔 If I was Benzema I would be pissed 😡 as well because before The world cup 2018 Benzema had already won everything a world class player could win and he even stepped up in the Champions League semifinals and the Final but the French Manager went to select players like Dembele who was out for 1/2 months and I am not hating on Dembele but a lot ppl could agree that players like Benzema and Martial deserved to be selected before Dembele but Its life when you have power ppl feel like GODs but you can be a king or a street sweeper but everyone dances with the Grim reaper meaning we will all go 6 feet under the ground!
Pozacest
51
Deschamp is jealous of Karim Benzema because Benzema is a far better player than Deschamp when he played. How he was selected the Captain of France winning World Cup in 1998 while Zidane was there in the team. That was also one kind of racism. Karim Benzema is past. He should not crave for national team. Let the youths like Pogba, Kante, Griesmann, etc should play for the nation and bring laurels.