Henry likens Benzema’s Euro 2016 absence to Cantona ’96 omission

Arsenal legend and former France striker Thierry Henry has compared Karim Benzema‘s omission from the Euro 2016 squad to that of Eric Cantona’s absence 20 years ago.

There was a big surprise when Les Bleus manager Didier Deschamps decided against including the Real Madrid star in his 23-man party for the tournament on home soil, explaining back in May that the choice was made in a bid to retain a positive atmosphere among the group.

Benzema’s absence can be likened to when Cantona, who had scored 14 goals in 30 Premier League games for Manchester United that season, was left out of then manager Aime Jacquet’s squad for the 1996 European Championships in England.

Many were shocked by that including Henry – who compared the similarity between both players’ absences from the major tournament.

“The reality is that Benzema will not be there, but it will not affect what is at stake because France have been preparing for this a very long time and, whether you agree with it or not, they obviously have a plan,” Henry said.

“Listen, it was the same when Aime Jacquet did not take Eric Cantona to Euro 96.

“The first reaction of everyone was that Jacquet is mad.

“I used to love Cantona, and when he was not in the squad I was mystified, too. You guys were even more mystified, because the Euros were in England.

“I don’t know what Jacquet’s plan was at that moment, and whether you thought it was crazy or not, but it worked in his favour – and that is talking about Cantona, who we all loved.

“But he was not going to disturb what Jacquet wanted, and from what I hear, Benzema is not going to disrupt Deschamps’ plan.”

The tournament Cantona missed 20 years ago saw France reach the semi-finals without him, and Deschamps will be hoping to do better this time around in the absence of another talisman.

France kick off Euro 2016 this Friday evening against Romania and the task of scoring the goals will fall on the likes of Anthony Martial, Antoine Griezmann and Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud, who has been in fine form during the warm-up games.