France has suffered a severe blow just three days after opening the World Cup in Qatar.
Karim Benzema will miss the tournament in which his country defends the World Champion crown.
The 34-year-old striker withdrew before finishing training with his team after suffering a blow to the quadriceps of his left thigh and after the medical tests carried out this Saturday night, the French federation has confirmed that he will not be able to play the World.
Touché au quadriceps de la cuisse gauche, Karim @Benzema est contraint de renoncer à participer au Mondial.
Toute l'équipe partage la tristesse de Karim et lui souhaite un prompt rétablissement 💙#FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/cxXFBpgFx8
— Team of France ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) November 19, 2022
The Ballon d'Or winner was participating in his first training session since he played his last game with Real Madrid on October 19, against Celtic in the Champions League.
Since then, Benzema had focused on recovering from muscle fatigue that has seen him miss nine games for his club.
Benzema was exercising normally with the rest of his teammates, practicing alongside the other forwards with whom he will presumably form the attack front, Griezmann and Mbappé.
After the first quarter of an hour of training, he suffered a blow that caused sharp pain in his left quadriceps, and he had to leave the field.
Tonight, after performing an MRI, an injury to the rectus femoris was confirmed that will require a three-week recovery period, as reported by the French team.
The coach, Didier Deschamps, has the option of calling another player until Monday, the day before the team opens in Qatar.
This news adds to the numerous mishaps that France has suffered since Deschamps announced the list of 26 called last week, a list that the injured Pogba and Kanté could not be on.
First, PSG defender Presnel Kimpembe left the squad after not recovering from injury, and this past week RB Leipzig striker Christian Nkunku was also sidelined after injuring himself in training.
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