France undergoes couples therapy for Mbappé and Benzema

Zinedine Zidane dreamed of taking charge of the France team, before or after the World Cup in Qatar.

He now he would prefer to let some time pass.

This is what they point out from the French Football Federation, where employees usually see the old idol from time to time.

The most respected man in French football likes to drop by the headquarters of the Boulevard de Grenelle, as well as by the Clairefontaine national technical center.

He knows the house inside out.

And he knows that right now, five months before the World Cup, the problems plaguing Didier Deschamps in the locker room threaten to overwhelm the solutions offered by the most powerful squad in Europe.

The coach's bench is no longer such an enviable position for

.

The draw against Austria (1-1) in the League of Nations, on Friday in Vienna, was the last act of a somber concentration, after the defeat against Denmark in Paris (1-2) and the draw against Croatia in Split (1 -1).

A meeting marked by the reunion between Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé in a tense climate.

PSG sources, contrasted with FFF employees, indicate that Benzema asked to meet with his colleague on the first day of coexistence in order to apologize and clear up misunderstandings.

From the conversation, they say, a cordial agreement emerged, as cold as an agreement between ministers.

But the complicity that united the two strikers throughout the 2021 European Championship, they say, is suspended.

The gestural language that the two exhibit on the field in this League of Nations confirms a distance.

Benzema and the World Cup-winning squad in Russia never got along.

Mbappé was the exception.

Until now.

The sudden disagreement was channeled through social networks.

On May 22, coinciding with Mbappé's announcement that he would renew his contract with PSG instead of signing for Real Madrid, Benzema's Instagram account posted a photo of rapper Tupac Shakur.

The proverbial victim of betrayal by his closest colleagues, Tupac was shot to death in 1996, before several of his allegedly disloyal friends were similarly shot to death in a succession of

.

That during 2021 Benzema presented himself to Mbappé as an intermediary in his negotiation with Madrid did not help to dispel suspicions.

Mbappé, as one of his lawyers observes, felt “threatened”.

When Benzema explained that things were not going with him, the PSG player replied that nothing was wrong, but that he should not forget that if he had returned to the French team after suffering national repudiation, it had been, to a large extent, thanks to your support.

A support that he offered, as everyone knows in the FFF, against the position of the top staff of the locker room, with Griezmann, Pogba and Kimpembe at the helm.

Mbappé defended Benzema even after last November 24, when the French Justice sentenced him to a year in prison with a suspended sentence for blackmailing Mathieu Valbuena, a former teammate and friend of several internationals.

"It was not against Mbappé or against anyone," Benzema said when asked about Tupac's photo during an interview on Movistar.

"It's because I love Real Madrid.

It is not a story of betrayal.

I'm not going to put a photo on Instagram to launch a message.

If I have it, I go to the person and talk about it with him.”

Mbappé did not detach himself from Benzema during the training and meals of the long concentration of the 2021 Eurocup, culminating in the elimination in the round of 16 against Switzerland.

Now the Parisian striker hangs out more with Griezmann and Kimpembe, and the first Ballon d'Or contender, more self-confident than ever, appears isolated.

"They're still sick", headlined

after the tie in Vienna, without knowing very well what to attribute the irregular game to, whether to summer fatigue, 3-4-3 or 4-4-2

Cantona, Anelka...

The paradox of France, world champion without Benzema in 2018, lies in the weakness it has exhibited since it was reinforced by its most illustrious footballer on the field of play.

Benzema has been France's best player since he returned to the team in June 2021. But his team-mates, in his shadow, have lost cohesion and energy.

The game against Austria reflected this contradiction.

In the first half, with Benzema and Griezmann leading the attack and Mbappé on the bench, France took six shots on goal, stole 25 balls and made 215 good passes.

The partial was 1-0 in favor of Austria.

In the second half, with Mbappé directing the operations – he scored a great goal – together with Nkunku, France shot nine times, recovered 32 balls and hit 366 passes.

The partial was 0-1 in favor of the visitor.

"I am satisfied with what we are capable of doing," Deschamps, the coach, said enigmatically after the game.

“In the content, we have done very good things.

We totally dominated in the second half.

We just lacked efficiency."

L'Equipe

sideways points out that the problem could originate in the poor form of Griezmann, one of the most indomitable objectors to Benzema's return in 2021. The reference newspaper suggests his change for Nkunku to receive Croatia this Monday in Saint Denis, without wondering which company Mbappé would prefer.

It happened with Cantona, sidelined by his teammates in 1994 after a leadership conflict, and it was repeated with Anelka in 2001. France's locker room politics were never easy.

Zidane, Benzema's great godfather, knows this.

Problems are piling up on the way to Qatar.

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