Deschamps, on Benzema scandal during the World Cup: "I can provide text messages"

Didier Deschamps is one of the best coaches in the world right now. Since his arrival at the French national team in 2012, he has won the UEFA Nations League and the Russia 2018 World Cup. And at Qatar 2022 he came very close to repeating that achievement: he lost on penalties in the final against Argentina, after a thrilling match in which they had tied 3-3.

Beyond the team's great performance during the tournament, they had some problems. Several players suffered serious injuries that prevented them from playing in the World Cup, such as N'Golo Kanté, Paul Pogba, Christopher Nkunku and Karim Benzema.

The latter was a special case, as he traveled with the squad to Qatar and suffered a muscle injury there. He was dropped from the list and returned to Madrid amid a scandal between the player and the French Football Federation. According to reports, Karim was convinced that he was going to recover after the first phase, but he was discarded anyway. The other version is that it was the striker's decision and not that of the Federation or the coach.

Almost a year later, the issue is again in the news because of Didier Deschamps' statements before the French National Assembly's commission of inquiry into issues within sports federations. There he said: "My choices are based on sporting decisions. I'm willing to delve into the details, but I'm not sure if this is the place to revisit the events that took place in Doha. The situation unfolded exactly as I described it. If you want more details, I can provide you with text message exchanges. However, I don't believe it will advance matters".

He is angry

Then the coach added: "I am currently involved in legal proceedings against a journalist who dared to make certain claims. I have no need to invent stories. Whom will you believe between what you read or hear and what actually occurred? I'm not here to entertain. I'm stating what happened".