Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti stated during a news conference on Thursday that forward Karim Benzema is excited to return to action after missing out on France’s World Cup campaign due to injury.
Benzema suffered a thigh injury in training just three days before the commencement of France’s World Cup campaign, thus resulting in his withdrawal from the squad.
“I won’t get into the decision that France took”, Ancelotti stated.
“They evaluated Karim’s situation in the moment. For them, he wasn’t going to be able to play again at the World Cup and they let him go. For us, the player has come back with a lot of excitement and a lot of motivation. He knows that he didn’t do what he wanted to in the first part of the season. In the second part, I’m convinced he’ll do well and help us a lot.”
Benzema’s agent criticized the player’s exclusion from the squad as being a “premature” move by France manager Didier Deschamps.
Prior to the World Cup, Benzema had dealt with a series of hamstring problems, meaning that the player was only able to play in seven of Real Madrid’s 14 games leading up to the World Cup break.
