Karim Benzema turns 35 this Monday, December 19, and he does so far from Qatar, to where he did not travel to see the final of his National Team despite the rumor that he would have been invited by the French Football Federation. The merengue player, who missed (again) the World Cup due to injury, was training this Sunday at the Valdebebas facilities.
The striker was not in the VIP boxes at the Lusai Stadium, where there were other well-known faces such as Elon Musk, Donald Trump’s son-in-law or Antonela Roccuzzo, Leo Messi’s wife. The Frenchman would be deeply upset with his national team coach, Didier Deschamps, after he did not call him up again once his injury was over. It must be remembered that the player was still on the list of 26 names from his country.
On November 20, two days before the debut of the French in the World Cup, the current Ballon d’Or fell from the list due to muscular fatigue in the quadriceps of his left leg. According to The teamthe soccer star has not had contact with the medical team of the National Team since then.
The player had a pending task with his team, since he did not play the 2016 Euro Cup (in which France came second), nor the 2018 World Cup, in which his teammates were proclaimed world champions. All because the athlete was removed from the national team between 2015 and 2021 for being involved in the ‘sextape’ against fellow footballer Mathieu Valbuena.
Benzema encouraged his team before the agonizing match against Messi’s Argentina, which ended up becoming one of the best finals in the history of the World Cups: “It’s time. All together. Come on, come on blues,” he wrote. After the injury that kept him from the World Cup, Benzema spent a few days on the Reunion Island. He did not disclose whether he was with his girlfriend, the 32-year-old model Jordan Ozuna. Their relationship was confirmed this summer, when they posted their first picture together on social media.
Benzema is the father of eight-year-old Melia, the result of his relationship with his first girlfriend, Chloé de Launay. With her he resumed her courtship in 2021 and, in November, Chloe herself shared a photo of her daughter with the white soccer player, in which a baby named Nouri also appeared. It was not confirmed if it is also Karim’s, since few details have been known about it.
His other son is Ibrahim, who was born in 2017 from his courtship with Cora Gauthier. She has a good relationship with the latter, to the point that, along with Jordan herself, she was one of her companions to the Ballon d’Or gala, held in mid-October.