Varnagel wrote:It's a blessing that Real Madrid's most important player is banned from France's NT. He gets 2 weeks of rest during international breaks without injury/fatigue risk. Kinda unfair to other teams IMHO.

These Algerian dual nationals should just play for Algeria. First fekir, now aouar, benzema.. what will it take for them to learn that not all of them are Mbappe?

Well, Aouar just needs to become consistent and injury-free.  Fekir...  can only blame himself.  Bad entourage, not a very dedicated pro, and questionable career moves.  He's just not as good as the people who are beating him out (same was the case with Dembele, Thauvin, Lemar, and Martial btw; the difference is that Dembele, Lemar, and Martial fought to make it back and are playing relatively well in big clubs; Fekir is meh with 3 goals this season).

France NT is incredibly competitive right now and there are kids coming up too (like all these guys:  https://www.fff.fr/selection/4-equipe-de-france-espoirs/derniere-selection.html).  You better be good.

Benzema...  well, he got involved in a blackmail scheme DURING an NT break no less...  called the coach a racist...  his comments caused the coach's house to get vandalized and spray painted... and never apologized.  DD is stubborn.  But Benzema f-ed up.  When Benzema went 1000 mins without scoring a goal for NT, DD stood behind him.  I get DD's anger.  It's up to Benzema to take a step here...  but his pride won't let him.

P.S. watch the CF Gouiri who plays for Nice. He's the one big attacking talent that I love coming through. Edouard... he needs to leave Celtic; appears that Liverpool, Arsenal and Leicester want him).

No, it's definitely for Lewa

Robespierre wrote:No, it's definitely for Lewa

Depends if Benzema is able to lead Madrid to La Liga and/or CL titles... if that happens and his teammates on the attack at Madrid right now, I believe he wins it going away.  If not, Lewa (assuming Bayern don't choke).

Btw, Mbappe trumps both these guys if PSG win CL as he's having a great season, mostly without Neymar again, and PSG would have beaten Bayern, Barca, City, etc.

Euro will play a big role too. Mbappe has the best team with him so he may take that too.

This very easily could be Mbappe's year.

sportsczy wrote:Benzema...  well, he got involved in a blackmail scheme DURING an NT break no less...  called the coach a racist...  his comments caused the coach's house to get vandalized and spray painted... and never apologized.  DD is stubborn.  But Benzema f-ed up.  When Benzema went 1000 mins without scoring a goal for NT, DD stood behind him.  I get DD's anger.  It's up to Benzema to take a step here...  but his pride won't let him.

Benzema never called the coach a racist, why the feck do you blatantly lying? And he can't be held responsable for idiots vandalizing the coach's house lmfao.

Varnagel wrote:

sportsczy wrote:Benzema...  well, he got involved in a blackmail scheme DURING an NT break no less...  called the coach a racist...  his comments caused the coach's house to get vandalized and spray painted... and never apologized.  DD is stubborn.  But Benzema f-ed up.  When Benzema went 1000 mins without scoring a goal for NT, DD stood behind him.  I get DD's anger.  It's up to Benzema to take a step here...  but his pride won't let him.

Benzema never called the coach a racist, why the feck do you blatantly lying? And he can't be held responsable for idiots vandalizing the coach's house lmfao.

He said:  “He (Deschamps) bowed to the pressure of a racist part of France”.  That's like saying Trump isn't racist but he bowed down to the pressure of the racist part of the Republican party.  It's the same thing.  Benzema knew exactly what he said.

That wasn't even the big issue.  The problem was that Deschamps asked Benzema to publicly retract his comments after the vandalism.  He refused.  So Kingsley Coman, Pogba, etc. had to publicly defend their coach publicly...  but not Benzema.  Later on, Deschamp's son was harassed by Benzema fans too.  

That's the reason for the beef.  Deschamp's family suffered because of Benzema's comment.

Inciting is as bad as doing it yourself.  We learned that the hard way in the US on January 6th.

Tbh sports you’re probably right. I’m just talking from a career standpoint. at the very least they would be getting game time. France is stacked right now yet there are players who would get game time for us and not for France.. although I see this slowly but surely changing (both teams are strong, whereas Algeria was pretty garbage up until 2014, we still aren’t on france’s level but we have a very solid team)

FennecFox7 wrote:Tbh sports you’re probably right. I’m just talking from a career standpoint. at the very least they would be getting game time. France is stacked right now yet there are players who would get game time for us and not for France.. although I see this slowly but surely changing (both teams are strong, whereas Algeria was pretty garbage up until 2014, we still aren’t on france’s level but we have a very solid team)

These guys are all competitors... and business people. My guess is that they want to make the France team because of the notoriety it will bring them. Not the same opportunity in Algeria.

Nothing to do with patriotism for most of these guys honestly. They all want to play for the best team they possibly can.

Aouar will make it. He still has 2 months to show his worth. Even if it isn't the Euro, he will play in the Olympics and then get his shot for the next international tournament.

The French are fucking racists though, and so is of course their NT

everyone knows it

Cantona said it out loud

sportsczy wrote:

Varnagel wrote:

sportsczy wrote:Benzema...  well, he got involved in a blackmail scheme DURING an NT break no less...  called the coach a racist...  his comments caused the coach's house to get vandalized and spray painted... and never apologized.  DD is stubborn.  But Benzema f-ed up.  When Benzema went 1000 mins without scoring a goal for NT, DD stood behind him.  I get DD's anger.  It's up to Benzema to take a step here...  but his pride won't let him.

Benzema never called the coach a racist, why the feck do you blatantly lying? And he can't be held responsable for idiots vandalizing the coach's house lmfao.

He said:  “He (Deschamps) bowed to the pressure of a racist part of France”.  That's like saying Trump isn't racist but he bowed down to the pressure of the racist part of the Republican party.  It's the same thing.  Benzema knew exactly what he said.

That wasn't even the big issue.  The problem was that Deschamps asked Benzema to publicly retract his comments after the vandalism.  He refused.  So Kingsley Coman, Pogba, etc. had to publicly defend their coach publicly...  but not Benzema.  Later on, Deschamp's son was harassed by Benzema fans too.  

That's the reason for the beef.  Deschamp's family suffered because of Benzema's comment.

Inciting is as bad as doing it yourself.  We learned that the hard way in the US on January 6th.

Deschamps knew all along he wasn't going to select benzema no matter what, and it seems like he was being pressured to keep benzema out, so what benzema said wasn't necessarily wrong, but I still have to blame benzema involving himself in the blackmailing, so even if he doesn't get to play again fair enough, but Deschamps using what benzema said is an excuse to keep him out you know that.

Deschamps isn't leaving anytime soon. He's 52. I can see him being the NT manager for another 10-15 years.

sportsczy wrote:Deschamps isn't leaving anytime soon. He's 52. I can see him being the NT manager for another 10-15 years.

That's a sad and horrible thought. So much talent down the drain.

This nonsense is a french tradition...  from Cantona to Ginola to Evra to Ribery to Benzema. Heck, Mexes couldn't make the team when he was beasting at Roma.

Mexes, Ribery and Evra were able to reintegrate because the manager changed.  Benzema won't be that lucky.

Honestly, Cantona and Ginola have the biggest gripes of all these guys.

Hapless_Hans wrote:The French are fucking racists though, and so is of course their NT

everyone knows it

Cantona said it out loud

After all France is the only power still holding onto its colonies in Africa with the CFA franc and military intervention (about 40 times in the last 60 years), every 1.5 years on average so basically round-the-clock lol. The queen of not letting go!!

BarcaLearning wrote:Come to think of it Benzema has done well over the years, I mean so he has the big ego, but hes managed to adapt himself after the Mou comment, then adjusting to be the support guy for Ronaldo, and then nowadays stepping up, all the while getting criticized for most of his Real career really. Probably not being involved in the NT and then with Zidane as coach has meant hes been able to focus all his energy.

I think the criticism towards him has been mostly fair. He's a Real Madrid legend, and he's absolutely been a decisive presence for us, but he's also had longer stretches of relatively poor form in the league over the course of his career, and he's had more than his fair share of drama off the pitch.

Benzema only in the recent two years has truly earned my respect personally as otherwise I saw him as too inconsistent and somewhat of an underachiever given the rightful expectations laid upon him based on his talent, and club.

To do what he is doing at 33 is nothing short of outstanding. Truly has matured into the cringefest he is off pitch (up for argument) into Real Madrid's talisman.

He is not victim like many paint, due to Cristiano but he is no doubt a Real Madrid legend, and more importantly a Champions League legend.

Bless his revival.

I really really fucking hope Madrid win the league and the CL. This guy deserves this award to complete his legacy as one of the greatest players to play the game

Benzema > R9, Henry, Van Basten, Eto'o, Puskas comfortably

I'd go a step further; Benzema > a combo of all the aforementioned players.

Credit to him. He has really stepped up in CR's absence. Proving that he is a great player.

Winning BDO as a madrid player would be amazing still, but as long as he proves that he wasn't the reason for the team not winning, as many titles before then that just as good if not better, he deserves to be recognized as one of the best players in the club history, easily the second best player on the team behind cr for a long time.

So I see some of ye have seen the light of truth.

Better late than never I guess. Not sure about this ballon d'or business though. They will most likely cancel it again because messi ain't winning it.

Arquitecto wrote:Benzema only in the recent two years has truly earned my respect personally as otherwise I saw him as too inconsistent and somewhat of an underachiever given the rightful expectations laid upon him based on his talent, and club.

To do what he is doing at 33 is nothing short of outstanding. Truly has matured into the cringefest he is off pitch (up for argument) into Real Madrid's talisman.

He is not victim like many paint, due to Cristiano but he is no doubt a Real Madrid legend, and more importantly a Champions League legend.

Bless his revival.

Cr had no problem watching benzema getting humiliated on a weekly basis to pad his stat, benzema going 10 games scoreless so regularly was clearly cr fault, don't know why it's hard to admit something so obvious, he immediately started to step up and scoring as soon as cr left, he is trying to prove a point that we all known about for a long time.

The day benzema wins balon dor the gates of heaven will open for Chad automatically