After being sidelined for Euro 2016 amidst controversial circumstances, France coach Didier Deschamps once again left out Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema for his Les Bleus squad.
The decision was one taken for the team’s own good, according to the French boss, and the player will not feature for the national team until his legal cases are fully behind him.
“All of the decisions I make are for the good of the team,” Deschamps said to press in his only comments on the matter.
Benzema, who was charged with blackmailing teammate Mathieu Valbuena, aggravated the situation further by accusing the coach of racism, and the Real No. 9 has yet to feature for France since those comments were made in early June.
While the coach has insisted that his comments weren’t going to keep Benzema from rejoining the national team, the overall situation may change as legal proceedings speed up, with a decision expected on October 14.
Another of the big decisions regarding the squad was whether or not to call up Aymeric Laporte, though Deschamps denied the reasoning was just to prevent the defender from playing for Spain.
“If I think Laporte should play, he’ll play,” he said. “I didn’t call hm up just to make sure he didn’t play with another national team.
“That’s never been how this works.”
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