The 'Benzema bombshell' in France heats up

Little by little the lists of players who will try to lead their respective countries to glory in the Eurocup are appearing and this Tuesday it is the turn of the current world champion. Didier Deschamps, like the rest of the coaches, will have three extra spots and among the 26 names that will appear in the call (it is announced today at 20:20 on French public television) there will be a great surprise as anticipated Le Parisien and ventured L'Équipe hours before: Karim Benzema will return to Les Bleus six years later.

With Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann, Kingsley Coman, Olivier Giroud, Ousmane Dembélé, Wissam Ben Yedder or Anthony Martial as chosen regulars, plus a Lemar who has recovered his step this season, being able to add three names to the usual 23 changes the context of the call. The tremendous performance of the Real Madrid striker has made his absence cease to be a taboo subject and in France they debated day in and day out his return to the national team.

In the French newspaper they point out that Noël Le Graet, President of the Federation, although he has publicly defended Deschamps' decision to leave out the '9' target of Les Bleus, He has been waiting for a long time, in a covert way, for the return of a footballer who was separated (his last game was with Armenia in October 2015) after the Valbuena case. Karim is having the best season of his career, he has been voted the best Frenchman outside of Ligue 1 and its performance is clearly on the rise, so doing without it would be too daring a luxury. A) Yes, He will be the second player to be pardoned by the French coach, after having forgiven Rabiot's sit-in at the 2018 World Cup.

The fans, in fact, have chosen him on their private list. Both in the survey conducted by L'Équipe as in that of Le Parisien. What's more, the first ones, in their digital edition, woke up with an enlightening: “15 world champions and a surprise?”. Thus, taking as a reference the 25 chosen for Deschamps last call, in March, there are several names that would fall: Areola (he chose four goalkeepers), Ferland Mendy (who has not recovered in time from his injury) and Ndombélé (his level of play has dropped in the final part of the season).

More doubts

Two other players between questions are Corentin Tolisso and Anthony Martial. The Bayern man was injured in the previous concentration, but it seems that he will have the approval of the coach and could take part in the final list. While the United comes back from injury and will have a couple of meetings with his team to regain the level of form. Of course, being available, its presence seems indisputable.

In defence, Pavard and Dubois would occupy the right lane, Lucas and Digne the left, and Varane, Kimpembe, Lenglet and Zouma would act as centrals. This would leave out men like Upamecano, Koundé or Fofana. These last two appear as potential surprises, since their versatility, in the absence of Ferland Mendy, is highly appreciated, but it would leave the French rearguard unguarded for the U21 European Championship.

While in the center of the field appear Pogba, Kanté, Rabiot, Sissoko and the aforementioned Tolisso as insurance. Steven Nzonzi would be one of the players who could perfectly complete the list, while his compatriot at Rennes, Eduardo Camavinga, seems to have more ballots to go with the under-21s. Case similar to Tchouaméni and Fofana, of Monaco, whose great season makes them walk in limbo between absolute and Les Espoirs.