In an interview with Spanish sports newspaper Marca, the Real Madrid striker said that Deschamps had bowed to the “pressure of a racist part of France”.
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Earlier this week, former France global Eric Cantona suggested that Benzema, and Nice star Hatem Ben Arfa, had been left out of the squad due to their ethnicity.
Benzema’s disappointment was understandable, he said.
“At the judicial level, I have not been judged”.
“Mourinho was something special”, Benzema told Marca.
“I think that whether it’s Didier Deschamps or the president of the federation, they would have liked him to be at the European Championship”.
“I have nothing to say about it”.
But on a sporting level, I don’t understand why.
The French Football Federation will surely answer Benzema’s words shortly, stay tuned.
“Racism exists in French society, Benzema could have done a lot, it would have been extraordinary for him to be captain of the France team, but he would have had to be irreproachable”, said Thuram, from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, who heads a foundation for education against racism.
The French striker was initially dropped from the France squad in April following claims of blackmail by teammate Mathieu Valbuena over a sex-tape but has not been proven guilty and could have been picked for the Euros.
Marcel Desailly discussed Didier Deschamps’ squad selection with Ger at the Off The Ball Roadshow and believes that there is an answer for every decision that Deschamps has made.
Benzema has now followed up Cantona’s claims by suggesting that Deschamps’ squad selection could have been influenced by the rise of the far-right Front Nationale party, which secured nearly 30% of the vote in regional elections in December.
“In this story [the Valbuena affair] only one person knows what happened, the truth, and that’s Valbuena”. Especially after [Manuel] Valls [the French prime minister] said he should not play for France.
The former Manchester United star suggested that the decision not to select Benzema and Nice winger Hatem Ben Arfa may have been related to their race. I wanted to help him, nothing more, and it’s gone against me. Despite Giroud’s consistent goal scoring form for France, the fans have not warmed up to him, which can prove detrimental to the player’s confidence.
Another highly gifted French player of North African roots is Manchester City’s Samir Nasri, who was excluded from France’s 2014 World Cup squad after attitude issues.
“You have a nice touch, you have the twist, you have a lot of opportunities to score goals, you always play attractive. but you are going to go nowhere”.
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“It is clear that when you discard a player like Benzema, you take away an entertaining player”.
