For Govou, Benzema was the victim of "a crime of facies"

Karim Benzema has made the headlines of many newspapers in recent days. For the title of Real Madrid on the one hand and its role in the 34th coronation of the White House. Former teammate of the French international in Lyon, Sidney Govou, 40, consultant for  Canal +, also returned to the great form of the Madrilenian he worked with in the Rhône from 2005 to 2009. “I am not surprised by its season. I always thought he was one of the best European strikers. He had small difficulties at the start at Real because he had to win. But it has taken on an incredible dimension over the years. And a little more after the departure of Ronaldo (to Juve, in 2018) . He has new responsibilities, he's a real leader (…) He's not a pure goalscorer, he's not a Firmino(Liverpool) , either, it's a mixed. He can do everything, score, pass, move ... He has a rare palette for this position. He is not obsessed with the goal and has been criticized enough. ”

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Benzema better than Henry?

In the small game of comparisons, Govou even believes that Karim Benzema is better than Thierry Henry, top scorer in the history of the Blues. “I think he has largely the level of Thierry. Thierry really impressed me because he was not only a fast player but he had the ball. But Karim is more complete. He also has a kind of presence because he is smaller and less athletic. Karim has always been a top player. If you love football, it's impossible not to love it. "

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"He's the wrong generation, him, Nasri ... They've been tagged. If he had been world champion, it looked like he was one of the best French players. What bothers me the most is this form of facial crime on the part of certain spectators or journalists ”

Asked about the blurred image of the French with the France team, the former partner of Benzema in Lyon did not beat around the bush. With arguments that resurface old polemics. "He's the wrong generation, him, Nasri ... They've been tagged. If he had been world champion, it looked like he was one of the best French players. What bothers me the most is this form of facial crime on the part of certain spectators or journalists. Because if we judged him on the value of the footballer, he was the best striker. And not just this year ”. As a reminder, Benzema has not played for the Blues since October 8, 2015. The reasons are known to all. His alleged involvement in the “sextape affair” launched in June 2015, then his remarks towards Didier Deschamps in May 2016, guilty in his eyes of having “yielded under the pressure of a racist part of France” as to his non-participation in the Euro. A sentence that has never digested the former captain and midfielder of the Blues, whose family home in Brittany has even been tagged following these allegations. Since then, the bridges have been cut between the two men and the coach leads the selection without worrying about the performance of Merengue.

Waiting for the sextape blackmail trial

The announcement had the effect of a bomb. On June 2, the Versailles public prosecutor's office requested a trial for “complicity in attempted blackmail” against the Real Madrid striker, in the context of the sextape blackmail case concerning Mathieu Valbuena. Karim Benzema is suspected of having incited his ex-teammate with the Blues to pay blackmailers who threatened to unveil an intimate video featuring him. He had been indicted and placed under judicial supervision for four months.

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