Real Madrid News
Benzema furious over false accusations of him prioritising World Cup over Real Madrid
Over the past few weeks, Karim Benzema has been struggling with niggling injury woes and has missed a string of matches for Real Madrid.
Earlier today, manager Carlo Ancelotti confirmed that the 34-year-old will miss the club’s final La Liga game before the FIFA World Cup break against Cadiz.
It has given way to speculation that the Real Madrid superstar, who won the Ballon d’Or earlier this year, is avoiding making a return to action in order to avoid risking an injury ahead of the World Cup.
And this has seemingly not gone down all too well with Benzema. Indeed, as per Jose Luis Sanchez, the 34-year-old superstar is furious about the false accusations as he has been working hard to return to fitness and help his Real Madrid teammates but has been unable to do so.
It is claimed that the Ballon d’Or 2022 winner continues to suffer from muscular discomfort that is keeping him out of action.
Benzema has already missed as many as eight matches for Real Madrid across all competitions this season, including each of their last three in La Liga. In the 12 matches he has played, the Los Blancos’ skipper has netted six goals and set up one more.
Benzema’s absence has coincided with a dodgy run of form for Real Madrid, which has seen them win just one of their previous four games in all competitions, with Barcelona taking a five-point lead over them at the top of La Liga.
It must be noted that Benzema was not part of France’s FIFA World Cup 2018 triumph as he was serving an international ban with Les Bleus at the time. And given his age, this upcoming World Cup could very well be his final one.
So, it would be understandable that he is intent on making it to the tournament in Qatar. However, doubting his professionalism and suspecting he is prioritising the World Cup over Real Madrid matches is not the right way to go about things.
It is astounding that despite being the biggest club in Spain, Real Madrid do not have many Spanish players to show for it.
Los Blancos do indeed boast of a special diversity in the dressing room, but their lack of locally trained players could pose problems according to MARCA.
The Spanish outlet confirms that UEFA does not mandate the inclusion of any minimum number of locally grown players for a club. However, the Spanish federation stipulates that a club in Spain must boast of at least eight players who meet a specific set of conditions.
Of the aforementioned eight candidates, there must be at least four players who have spent three seasons or 36 months at the club between the ages of 15 and 21.
Currently, only Nacho Fernandez, Dani Carvajal, Lucas Vazquez, Federico Valverde, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Mariano make up the required number on that front.
The problem, however, arises with the condition for the other four players in the list of eight. RFEF stipulates that the second set of four players must have completed at least 36 months in teams attached to the federation of Spain between the ages of 15 and 21.
Only Jesus Vallejo, Alvaro Odriozola, Marco Asensio and Dani Ceballos tick the aforementioned box. However, all four players have uncertain futures at the club and are well-placed to depart in the summer.
There are thus big decisions to be taken over the transfer strategy for June. Real Madrid can work ways to ship all four players out, it would require the re-integration of players like Sergio Arribas, Miguel Gutierrez or Fran Garcia to ensure the fulfilment of the criteria.
With both Vallejo and Odriozola seemingly frozen out of Ancelotti’s plans, their departures from Santiago Bernabeu appear inevitable. Thus, the management could be forced to renew one of Asensio or Ceballos come June.
