Three years after Karim Benzema’s sudden withdrawal before the 2022 World Cup, the story is resurfacing, and this time, Didier Deschamps is revealing what really happened. During his defamation trial against Daniel Riolo, the France manager, the team doctor and the head of security all detailed the dramatic night everything collapsed.
Team doctor Franck Le Gall says the diagnosis was clear: a grade-2 muscle tear, meaning Benzema was immediately ruled out. What followed was a cold, tense night: a late trip to the clinic, a return to the hotel around midnight… “Everyone had a mask on their face,” recalls Mohamed Sanhadji, head of security.
In the middle of the night, Benzema’s entourage tried to book a private jet. Impossible, air routes were blocked. Eventually, a discreet departure was arranged on a Qatar Airways commercial flight around 4:30 a.m. Sanhadji insists: “He wanted to leave. We accompanied him.”
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“I asked him what he thought. He told me: ‘It’s over.’”
Deschamps remembers finding a Benzema “devastated, shattered” in his room. “I asked him what he thought. He told me: ‘It’s over.’”
The manager says he hoped to see him again the next morning, but when he woke up, Karim was already gone, without informing him directly. Deschamps learned of the departure through Sanhadji and sent the striker a message immediately.
A highly sensitive episode at the time, but one whose hidden details are finally coming to light.
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