Karim Benzema, elevated to the rank of Ballon d'Or in Paris on Monday evening, obviously intends to silence any dispute.
At least that's the reading we can make of the story published by the Madrid striker on Instagram this Friday.
Benzema openly attacks Jérôme Rothen, former contemporary footballer of KB 9, now a consultant and the controller of the program "Rothen s'ignite" dedicated to football on RMC.
Karim Benzema pays Jérôme Rothen on Instagram!
💥🥊 pic.twitter.com/T3bQPtqMAB
— Football.fr (@football_fr) October 21, 2022
The former Lyonnais, 34, mocks the former PSG player, 44, by posting a photo of Rothen in the jersey of MKE Ankaragücü, an obscure Turkish club to which he was loaned in 2010. As a photo caption , which may amount to an attempt at intimidation, Benzema writes: "You talk too much..., stay focused..." Another image then shows Benzema himself displaying his award, accompanied by the caption "focused"
Rothen has drawn the wrath of the 66th Ballon d'Or by declaring in recent days on his show that he considered Kylian Mbappé superior to Benzema, at least among the Blues.
The offending statement is as follows: “In the France team, we have more certainty in the stars with Mbappé than Benzema.
He scores more and is more decisive than any striker.
It is essential.
»
Worse, last May, the football consultant had committed a crime of lèse-majesté, allowing himself to relativize the imprint of Benzema in the history of French football.
"Karim Benzema is not one of the legends of French football," Rothen said.
All generations combined.
On the other hand, if he wins the World Cup it will mean that he took the French team in a forward role.
If he manages to take the Blues up there, he will be part of the legends.
»
For the record, it turns out that Benzema and Rothen, despite their ten-year gap, were teammates in the French team in 2007, during a 6-0 victory in the Faroe Islands and a draw against Morocco 2-2.
If they created ties at the time, these have obviously weakened over time.