Karim Benzema has had to wait a while. Eight years, to be exact. Not since July 2014 has the Real Madrid striker played at the World Cup, in a 1-0 quarter-final defeat to eventual champions Germany (top right). No one, especially not the man himself, thought it would take so long for his next appearance in the globe’s biggest tournament.
Benzema’s six years away from the French national team, after the Mathieu Valbuena sex tape scandal, meant that he missed out on two major finals with Les Bleus – the Euro 2016 defeat to Portugal on home soil, then the biggest triumph of all, at the 2018 World Cup against Croatia. Without him, Didier Deschamps’ side flourished, more often than not. It looked like Benzema would never be back – but miracles happen, even in football.
Now, a new chapter is about to be opened in his incredible career. On November 22, at the Al Janoub Stadium in Qatar, he’ll take to the field to face Australia in the best form of his life, aged almost 35. After waiting so long for another chance to shine at a World Cup, it arrives when he’s stronger than ever…
“I’M HERE TO TAKE YOUR PLACE”
Understandably, Benzema is relishing the challenge, more than any other competition in his long career. More than when he made his Ligue 1 debut with Lyon, his hometown club, as a 17-year-old prodigy against Metz in January 2005 and delivered an assist with his first touch. More than his first Champions League venture – a goal against Rosenborg that December. Even more than his move to La Liga, and the self-mythologising institution that is Real Madrid, in 2009.
The Frenchman rose to every challenge, overcame every obstacle and moved on to the next one, until
