Was Karim Benzema able to stay with the France group for the World Cup?
Probably not and Didier Deschamps never doubted it.
Still, the Ballon d'Or 2022 found the joys of club grounds with Real Madrid this Thursday.
The top scorer in La Liga last season played a friendly match against Leganès (1-1) on Real's training grounds, captain's armband on his arm.
The objective for Carlo Ancelotti's men was to resume smoothly two weeks before the resumption of the Spanish championship.
The people of Madrid are making their return to competition against Valladolid on December 30.
For this first preparation match, striker Toni Kroos and David Alaba were on the starting side with KB9.
They were accompanied by a solid team around Lucas Vazquez, Alvaro Odriozola, Mariano Díaz, Andriy Lunin, Ferland Mendy, Nacho and Dani Ceballos.
Over two periods of 30 minutes, Benzema was able to regain some rhythm, after resuming training this Saturday, the day of France-England.
No particular sign of pain or discomfort.
🇬🇧🤔 Y mientras is debating if Benzema debería volver con Francia para la final del Mundial, Karim... https://t.co/3tkCjJ3RUQ Por @jdelriomuradas
— MARCA (@marca) December 15, 2022
What revive, for some, the controversy over a potential presence with the France team if the 34-year-old striker had not left the group after his tear in the left thigh on November 19 in Qatar.
Not replaced in the group of 26 Blues, Karim Benzema will anyway be world champion in the event of his team's final victory.
According to several Spanish media, his club and Carlo Ancelotti would have given him permission to go to Doha to attend the final of the Blues.
If he congratulated the Blues on social networks after the quarter against England (2-1) then the half against Morocco (2-0), the Habs did not deliver any information on his intentions.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/S7UVDTX7DREC7DXVCZN6MEKGBY.jpg)
