French striker Karim Benzema has announced his retirement from International football less than 24 hours after his teammates were beaten in the World Cup final.
The Real Madrid was called up to the squad by manager Didier Deschamps but had to return to Spain after picking up a thigh injury that ruled him out of the tournament. Despite rumours that Benzema may have been fit to play a role in the final on Sunday, the striker played no role and even rejected an offer from French President Emmanuel Macron to attend the game as his guest.
Today, Benzema took to Twitter to officially announce that he was calling time on his International career: “I made the effort and the mistakes it took to be where I am today and I'm proud of it! I have written my story and ours is ending.”
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The 34-year-old striker has enjoyed a strained relationship with the National side for many years. Between 2015 and 2021, Benzema was not selected for the National team after a slew of controversies.
During this time, he missed France's Euro 2016 final defeat on home soil and was nowhere to be seen as 'Les Bleus' beat Croatia to win the World Cup in 2018.
He returned to the set-up under Deschamps last year and scored 10 goals in his 16 International games since his exodus. The former Lyon striker had formed an impressive partnership with Kylian Mbappe and was expected to lead the line this tournament.
Due to the injury, Olivier Giroud ended up claiming the central striker role and performed fabulously throughout the tournament. The AC Milan star scored four goals en route to the final, and became France's all-time leading goalscorer in the process.
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