Benzema back in France squad for the Euros, as per reports…..

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

Not sure what your source is, but Cole is definitely the most comparable no.9 with an impressive record that didn’t take penalties.

In the PL alone, Cole was at 187 goals (0 penalties), 73 assists in 414 appearances.

Benz is 192 (11 pens), 102 assists in 383 appearances. Obviously the tide is in Benzema’s favour (he has aged gracefully whilst Cole obviously went

0.45 per game to 0.49 per game over their careers. Not a massive difference.
Benzema has played 80 more games than Cole

downhill after leaving us), but Cole sure isn’t in bad company here.

What you guys are missing is that Benzema spent 9 years playing only 70 minutes of most games he'd start due to Ronaldo being there and obviously you won't sub Ronaldo out.

Benzema has the 5th highest G+A/minutes in modern football as far as striker are concerned https://www.redcafe.net/threads/top...s-involvement-over-their-club-careers.461564/

His G/A per game number doesn't do him justice.

 

[JPRouve]

He would've had a statue outside the Stretford End. The only thing he would've missed is the Madrid climate...but it does get sunny over here a couple of times a year. So there's that....

Madrid doesn't have a great climate, there isn't much to miss. It's humid and cold during winter, dry and hot during summer but players are barely around during summer.

 

[DWelbz19]

I think you’re missing the point here. This isn’t to dog on Benzema — one of the best no.9’s of the past 15 years — if anything this shows just how unique Benzema is, and also to give Andy Cole his flowers a little bit, who much like Benz, is/was very underrated for the most part.

 

[DWelbz19]

He really should've moved to United from Lyon. He would've been our main player.

Would’ve loved to see Benzema and Rooney play together.

 

[NasirTimothy]

By the way, can anyone think of any player with Benzema's record who barely takes penalties either?

Ian Rush

 

[Bastian]

He would've had a statue outside the Stretford End. The only thing he would've missed is the Madrid climate...but it does get sunny over here a couple of times a year. So there's that....

I don't know about statue, but he would in all likelihood be 4 CLs short. I can't imagine he regrets it even a tiny bit. But hopefully he'll be wearing our shirt soon enough.

 

[Escobar]

Cant stand him. So strange to recall him too

 

[Kaos]

Interesting insight from one of our newbies @Drygon


[Romain Molina] Antoine Griezmann has been pissing off his NT teammates for years because of his ego, often telling them "I've saved you guys again", the Barcelona forward was extremely unhappy at the attention Benzema received from the French marking team. Huge reveals on French football and more

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Romain Molina is a French investigative journalist who has proven to be an extremely competent & reliable source in the past.

Most recently, his investigation on minors being sexually abused in the Malian Basketball federation was published by the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/sports/olympics/fiba-basketball-mali-sexual-abuse.html). As for football, he uncovered sexual harassment and abuse being performed by high ranked members of the French Federation on young girls and boys at Clairefontaine. He has also been published by CNN, the BBC and Le Temps

His sources on French football are also extremely good, unvealing many scandals within french clubs.

Here are the key points on his livestream of yesterday regarding Benzema

- Macron played a hand in Benzema's return (does not say to which extent or if it originated from him)

- Griezmann was extremely unhappy at the PR team putting too much emphasis on Benzema, especially when it comes to graphics/imagery/pictures

- Pogba was annoyed too

- Griezmann has been pissing everybody off for years, often telling his teammates "Thank god I'm here, I've saved you guys again". There were already tensions at WC 2018 and Griezmann was unbearable

- Griezmann's family are in contact with the press at all time and feed them information hence why no one reveals these things

- Before the euro French federation high ranked members were planning on putting all the blame on Benzema if things went wrong

The full and complete source on all these things is here

 

[JPRouve]

@Kaos

Molina actually minimize the tensions, he says that while some tensions exist it's not new nor abnormal and that some are using as an excuse after the elimination.

 

[berbatrick]

France had 3 missed chances and a missed penalty, and some atrocious individual and group defending. "tensions" shouldn't be in their top 5 reasons for losing. They played quite well but inconsistently, didn't look like those tensions translated to performance.

 

[Wolf1992]

France had 3 missed chances and a missed penalty, and some atrocious individual and group defending. "tensions" shouldn't be in their top 5 reasons for losing. They played quite well but inconsistently, didn't look like those tensions translated to performance.

Agree.

If Pogba hadn't fecked up in the equalizer, they would have beated Switzerland 3-2, and no one would mention the drama.

Journalists are making the "drama" bigger because it's what it sells.

 

[Skills]

He would've had a statue outside the Stretford End. The only thing he would've missed is the Madrid climate...but it does get sunny over here a couple of times a year. So there's that....

And the 4 Champions League titles of course

 

[Raredaredevil]

Interesting insight from one of our newbies @Drygon


[Romain Molina] Antoine Griezmann has been pissing off his NT teammates for years because of his ego, often telling them "I've saved you guys again", the Barcelona forward was extremely unhappy at the attention Benzema received from the French marking team. Huge reveals on French football and more

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Romain Molina is a French investigative journalist who has proven to be an extremely competent & reliable source in the past.

Most recently, his investigation on minors being sexually abused in the Malian Basketball federation was published by the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/sports/olympics/fiba-basketball-mali-sexual-abuse.html). As for football, he uncovered sexual harassment and abuse being performed by high ranked members of the French Federation on young girls and boys at Clairefontaine. He has also been published by CNN, the BBC and Le Temps

His sources on French football are also extremely good, unvealing many scandals within french clubs.

Here are the key points on his livestream of yesterday regarding Benzema

- Macron played a hand in Benzema's return (does not say to which extent or if it originated from him)

- Griezmann was extremely unhappy at the PR team putting too much emphasis on Benzema, especially when it comes to graphics/imagery/pictures

- Pogba was annoyed too

- Griezmann has been pissing everybody off for years, often telling his teammates "Thank god I'm here, I've saved you guys again". There were already tensions at WC 2018 and Griezmann was unbearable

- Griezmann's family are in contact with the press at all time and feed them information hence why no one reveals these things

- Before the euro French federation high ranked members were planning on putting all the blame on Benzema if things went wrong

The full and complete source on all these things is here

I thought this French team is different from past French teams because of their unity and mental strength. Always knew that France has a tendency to implode because of internal politics.

 

[kouroux]

I thought this French team is different from past French teams because of their unity and mental strength. Always knew that France has a tendency to implode because of internal politics.

Honestly I believe all these elements have often been there, it's just that success that makes those stories not worth talking about. When things turn to shit then there are always stories coming out

 

[JJ12]

Didn’t Griezman announce he was going to Barca in a similar fashion to Lebron announcing he was going to Miami?

 

[Wolf1992]

I thought this French team is different from past French teams because of their unity and mental strength. Always knew that France has a tendency to implode because of internal politics.

What are you talking about?

Past french teams have also won trophies, and in terms of quality they were superior tbh.

 

[Irwin99]

The poor body language and petulance of the players was on show virtually all tournament; they were moaning constantly against Portugal, looked rattled vs Hungry and were god awful in the first half against the Swiss. I remember thinking during the Portugal game they reminded me a bit of PSG with their tantrums.

In fairness to Griezmann I thought his workrate was outstanding at times but he rarely offered much else.

 

[UncleBob]

Didn’t Griezman announce he was going to Barca in a similar fashion to Lebron announcing he was going to Miami?

No.

He used it to announce he was staying at Atletico Madrid.

Then he regretted that and fecked off to Barcelona a year later

 

[JJ12]

No.

He used it to announce he was staying at Atletico Madrid.

Then he regretted that and fecked off to Barcelona a year later

Even better

 

[pascell]

No.

He used it to announce he was staying at Atletico Madrid.

Then he regretted that and fecked off to Barcelona a year later

He did a netflix episode or something announcing it didn't he?

 

[UncleBob]

He did a netflix episode or something announcing it didn't he?

Announcing what, Barcelona or that he was staying?

 

[pascell]

Announcing what, Barcelona or that he was staying?

That he was staying, I think it was.

Edit: it was called 'la decision' or something along them lines.

 

[UncleBob]

That he was staying, I think it was.

Edit: it was called 'la decision' or something along them lines.

Yes.

Then he had a netflix doc, if i remember correctly.

 

[the_cliff]

So plenty of rumours on French twitter about a falling out between Benzema and Deschamps. Not sure of the origin of the rumours but there's definitely something going on judging by Benzema's socials.

Apparently Zidane, Benzema and Deschamps are involved. Maybe the French posters could explain more.

 

[York]

And why would it matter? There’s no way he plays in 2026.

 

[awop]

So plenty of rumours on French twitter about a falling out between Benzema and Deschamps. Not sure of the origin of the rumours but there's definitely something going on judging by Benzema's socials.

Apparently Zidane, Benzema and Deschamps are involved. Maybe the French posters could explain more.

This is only my understanding trying to add up random tweets from the past few days
Benzema probably wanted to stay in the squad if he could get fit for the quarters/semis and that didnt sit well with some. Would not surprise me that his Ballon d'Or made him think he could do what he wants.Griezmann/Giroud and Lloris are not fans of him and the 3 biggest players in the squad outside Varane/Mbappe. These 2 like him but Deschamps probably opted for squad harmony in the long run.
If he stayed, Giroud got us to the semis only for Benzema to come in and replace him, that would have caused issues. On top of that i actually think it is/was a done deal between the FFF and Zidane to take over if we got knocked out early. Now Deschamps has full power wether he stays on or leave. I think he will stay on until the Euros and then leave wether we win or not on Sunday.
In typical Benzema fashion he's posting cryptic stuff on Instagram and is killing his slim chance of featuring at the Euros. If he was 25, it would be a big problem but him and Giroud will leave at the same time and we all know which one will be remembered. Amazing player but deep down still a bit of an idiot unfortunately.

 

[Oly Francis]

So plenty of rumours on French twitter about a falling out between Benzema and Deschamps. Not sure of the origin of the rumours but there's definitely something going on judging by Benzema's socials.

Apparently Zidane, Benzema and Deschamps are involved. Maybe the French posters could explain more.

It's very unclear so far. There's a lot of different rumors that I can try to sum up :
- according to some sources, Griezmann wasn't getting along with Benzema since Benzema came back
- some say the french staff used Benzema's injury to get rid of him for the whole world cup when they could have kept him in the team to see how he heals
- some entourages (Griezmann's brother according to some) leaked to the press that the team was feeling much better since Benzema's gone
- Benzema was invited to the WC final and said on social media that he's "not interested"
- Apparently, Zidane isn't coming either in support for Benzema

I don't know what happened at all, but there's one sure thing : Benzema is a huge piece of sh*t for creating drama 2 days before a WC final. If France does win, there's no excuse or explaination he'll be able to give that won't end up in "we don't give a f*ck, we won 2 world cups without you, you're toxic".

Great player, very very small man. He'll be reminded his "You can't compare me with Giroud, I'm a formula 1 and he's a kart" for the rest of his life. A deservedly so, it was a cheap cheap shot.

Maybe other french players in the group are sh*t themselves, maybe Griezmann is, but he'll be a 2nd time world champion with a near perfect tournament.

 

[Bubz27]

Twitter.fr

 

[tentan]

It's very unclear so far. There's a lot of different rumors that I can try to sum up :
- according to some sources, Griezmann wasn't getting along with Benzema since Benzema came back
- some say the french staff used Benzema's injury to get rid of him for the whole world cup when they could have kept him in the team to see how he heals
- some entourages (Griezmann's brother according to some) leaked to the press that the team was feeling much better since Benzema's gone
- Benzema was invited to the WC final and said on social media that he's "not interested"
- Apparently, Zidane isn't coming either in support for Benzema

I don't know what happened at all, but there's one sure thing : Benzema is a huge piece of sh*t for creating drama 2 days before a WC final. If France does win, there's no excuse or explaination he'll be able to give that won't end up in "we don't give a f*ck, we won 2 world cups without you, you're toxic".

Great player, very very small man. He'll be reminded his "You can't compare me with Giroud, I'm a formula 1 and he's a kart" for the rest of his life. A deservedly so, it was a cheap cheap shot.

Maybe other french players in the group are sh*t themselves, maybe Griezmann is, but he'll be a 2nd time world champion with a near perfect tournament.

He must be crazy. Having a chance to win a WC and he's turning it down?

But if France do win he gets a medal right

 

[Gazza]

No to mega threads! This thread was for the Euros, not worth it to open a new one?

 

[Oly Francis]

He must be crazy. Having a chance to win a WC and he's turning it down?

But if France do win he gets a medal right

Sorry if i wasn't clear, he was offered to attend the final with the french delegation, not play in it.

 

[giorno]

Let's face it, it wouldn't be France if there wasn't some internal drama

 

[Big Ben Foster]

He must be crazy. Having a chance to win a WC and he's turning it down?

But if France do win he gets a medal right

I believe so, he was never replaced in the 26 man squad submitted to FIFA. But that medal would come with the biggest of asterisks, of course.

 

[Foxbatt]

Is he really injured or is it just a PR way of dropping him?

 

[The Urban Goose]

Let's face it, it wouldn't be France if there wasn't some internal drama

I don't know, it's not like France to have a clash of egos...

 

[villain]

Ah yes, love it when the French have a traitor in the camp

 

[Jev]

It's funny. My impression is there has been little drama around him during his long Real Madrid career but with France it's been a non-stop soap opera with some truly despicable behaviour from him.

 

[Madridista2000]

I hope France loses.

 

[Conor]

Trust France to try and feck this up for France.

 

[Oranges038]

I read the other day he was coming back into the squad for the final, clearly it's not as simple as that.

Mental that shit like this goes on at the top of the game. Should have replaced him when he was injured, they don't really need him.