France head coach Didier Deschamps has failed to rule out the possibility of using Karim Benzema in his side’s World Cup final game against Argentina on Sunday.
The Real Madrid forward was set to lead the line for his country in Qatar, but had to opt-out from the squad after picking up a thigh injury a day before the tournament’s start.
The injury was expected to rule him out for over 21 days, so France decided to send him back to Spain so he could receive treatment at his club.
However, despite being sent home, France has yet to call up a replacement. And so Benzema has technically remained a member of France’s World Cup squad.
Because of this, it has been speculated that the striker will be flown to Qatar to play a part in the tournament’s final against Argentina. According to Spanish news outlet Mundo Deportivo, the 34-year-old is now fully participating in training at Real Madrid again. He is fit enough to play games. Los Blancos are said to be happy for him to rejoin France’s World Cup squad for their final match.
However, when asked about the possibility of that happening, France boss Deschamps gave a somewhat cryptic response, refusing to rule out doing so when asked about the possibility.
“I’d prefer to move on to the next question,” he said when asked about Benzema after his team’s 2-0 win over Morocco in the semi-finals.
However, even if Benzema were to return, it’s highly unlikely that he would play a massive part in the final, considering that France’s current first-choice striker Olivier Giroud is performing well in Qatar. The AC Milan striker has four goals in five starts at the tournament and has formed a great relationship with Kylian Mbappe.
