One day after announcing the renewal of Didier Deschamps until 2026, Noël Le Graet, president of the French Football Federation, gave an interview to RMC Sport in which he spoke about the current situation of the French team, about Zinedine Zidane, from whom he acknowledged that he “would not have picked up the phone” if I had called him and he also had words about the supposed controversy of the absence of Benzema in the entire World Cup in Qatar.
“Zidane was always under the radar, you don’t have to tell stories. He had a lot of supporters, some were waiting for Deschamps to leave. But who can seriously criticize Deschamps? Nobody can. You can always fail a game, but I’ve been with him for 10 years, there haven’t been many problems. His departure always generates clicks, “he declared in the first instance about the possible arrival of Zidane.”
He also spoke about the possible arrival of Zizou to the Brazilian team and about whether they spoke before the renewal of Deschamps: “Zidane with Brazil? I don’t know, I’d be surprised. He does what he wants, it’s none of my business. I have never seen him, we have never thought of parting ways with Didier Deschamps. That does not correspond to anything. Some journalists need to change or invent because they don’t know what to write and would rather say bad than good things. Frankly, I have never been taken out by those who condemn beforehand. Regarding Zidane and the Brazilian team, I don’t care., let him go wherever he wants! He can go wherever he wants, to a club… of selection, I don’t believe it as far as he is concerned (…) Did Zidane try to contact me? Of course not, he wouldn’t even have picked up the phone. To tell him to find another club? Make a special program for him to find a club or a selection, ”she commented.
Finally, Le Graet referred to the management of the case Benzema during the World Cup. “He was injured, unfortunately he left, I’m sorry. I admire the career of Benzema, who had the best year of his life and his career. Unfortunately, in the first or second training session, he had a setback. I have great admiration for him. What does the environment say about him? I do not care. The medical staff did what was necessary.. We had 24 players and we ended up with 24, so the staff have done a good job. Benzema returned to training when he finished the competition, not before. That being said, it was a shame. While he was telling myself that Giroud might not have played and we might not have scored as many goals.”
