Karim Benzema’s exclusion from the France World Cup squad has been criticised by Christian Karembeu, who wanted to see the Real Madrid make up part of the group.
His publicised falling out with Didier Deschamps means that the striker will never pull on his country’s jersey again as long as the current coach is in charge.
Although they reached a final at Euro 2016 without him and with Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann spearheading Les Bleus, the 1998 World Cup winner laments the absence of the ex-Lyon ace.
“He [Griezmann] did very well at the European Championship where he was the leader, but we needed Benzema to score goals,” Karembeu told MARCA at the City Champions event in Athens.
“We have lacked a goalscorer. We had [Olivier] Giroud, [Andre-Pierre] Gignac… but still we don’t think of Benzema.
“He’s not on the list this time so now we must support Giroud, Griezmann and [Kylian] Mbappe but I do miss having Benzema in the squad.
“Deschamps had the plan not to play him at the Euros for some time but it is all a shame because he’s doing very well at Real Madrid.”