Celebration and concern: supported by 5,000 enthusiastic fans, the French soccer team beat Bulgaria 3-0 in a friendly, this Tuesday in Saint-Denis (northern suburbs of Paris), although the night was not perfect due to the substitution due to injury of Karim Benzema, seven days before the debut of the ‘Bleus’ in the European Championship.
Absolute dominator of the match, France took a while to get ahead on the scoreboard. Antoine Griezmann was in charge of opening the can (29) and when it already seemed that the match would end with a win by the minimum for the locals, Olivier Giroud, who came on for Benzema, signed an unexpected double in the final stages of the match (83, 90).
A hymn sung from the heart from the stands, a multitude of tricolor flags, a good temperature and Giroud’s goals… The night should be the one of the reunion between the French team and its public.
But that great atmosphere took a turn for the worse when Benzema was forced to leave the pitch at the Stade de France after 39 minutes of play, injured above his right knee.
“It’s a ‘sandwich'”, quickly reassured the French coach, Didier Deschamps, explaining on M6 television that his striker had “received a good blow to the muscle above the knee” and that there was “no risk”.
The 33-year-old striker, back with the ‘Bleus’ after five years and seven months, was injured after a cross in which he did not support himself well and limped out of the stadium directing warm applause to the thousands of spectators in the stands .
Although the first news is quite good regarding Benzema’s chances of being fit for the start of the European Championship in Munich, the next few days will be a race against time for the medical team. AFP (HN)