MADRID: Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti says if the injured Karim Benzema is unable to play in next week’s La Liga derby against Atletico Madrid it will rule the star striker out of contention for France’s Nations League World Cup warm up games.
Benzema, hot favorite to pick up next month’s Ballon d’Or, suffered a right thigh injury in Tuesday’s 3-0 Champions League win at Celtic.
And Ancelotti said on Saturday: “Karim? We’ll see if he can make the derby. What’s certain is that if he doesn’t play the derby he won’t be joining his national team.”
World Cup winners France continue the preparations for the defense of their 2018 crown against Austria on September 22 and Denmark three days later.
Ancelotti added of the French forward: “These are the sort of things that can happen
“There’s a minor issue, but last year too he had a physical problem in December and we were able to deal with it.
“This year, it’ll be the same thing.”
The 34-year-old striker hobbled off after half an hour of the game at Parkhead with Real going on to run out impressive winners as they kicked off their title defense in style.
“Without him the team played really well against Celtic, especially in attack,” Ancelotti observed, ahead of Sunday’s La Liga clash with Real Mallorca.
Eden Hazard will as he did in Glasgow step in to Benzema’s role on Sunday.
While praising the Belgian for his performance in Scotland Ancelotti noted: “Benzema doesn’t have a natural replacement.
“He’s the best center forward in the world, and there’s no substitute for him anywhere on the market.”
Whether Benzema is fit enough to face Atletico will determine in part on tests but mostly on his astute coach.
“We’ve got lots of information, physical and technical. I take them all into account but only to confirm what my own eyes are telling me.
“If my eyes tell me a player is well on the pitch but the data is saying he’s tired, he’ll remain out on the pitch.”
Benzema’s France call-up hinges on Madrid derby says Ancelotti
https://arab.news/vgm7e
Benzema’s France call-up hinges on Madrid derby says Ancelotti
- Benzema, hot favourite to pick up next month's Ballon d'Or, suffered a right thigh injury in Tuesday's 3-0 Champions League win at Celtic
- Ancelotti said: "Karim? We'll see if he can make the derby"
Liverpool’s Slot says football must do more after Vinicius racism allegation
- The Dutchman said Jeremie Frimpong is still out this weekend but fellow defender Joe Gomez is ready to start if needed
Liverpool manager Arne Slot says more needs to be done to avoid racism in football following allegations by Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr that he was subjected to racist abuse from Benfica’s Argentine winger Gianluca Prestianni.
Real’s 1-0 Champions League playoff first-leg win at Benfica on Tuesday was overshadowed by Vinicius accusing Prestianni of directing a racist slur at him, a charge denied by the Portuguese club, the player and their manager Jose Mourinho.
European soccer’s governing body UEFA said it was reviewing the incident, which led to the game being halted for 11 minutes under FIFA’s anti-racism protocol.
“In general you can never do enough, you can always do more to make sure this (racism in football) never happens again,” Slot told reporters ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League visit to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
“We have to try as a football community to do more than society does. That’s maybe not so difficult, by the way. Protocol was followed in the game, that’s the first step,” he said on Thursday.
“I would hope my players would act in a similar way — immediately address it, and the referee acts in a similar way.”
Regarding the Forest game, Slot expects a different set-up under the Midlands club’s new manager Vitor Pereira compared to the meeting in November when Liverpool lost 3-0 at Anfield.
Former Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Pereira was appointed last Sunday to replace the sacked Sean Dyche.
“We only have tonight (Thursday) to see if this new manager changes personnel,” Slot said, referring to Forest’s first game under Pereira at Fenerbahce in a Europa League playoff tie.
“The good thing is they have that game, and the manager was in the Premier League last season.”
The Dutchman said Jeremie Frimpong is still out this weekend but fellow defender Joe Gomez is ready to start if needed.
Slot said his side have improved over the past few months, with Liverpool sixth in the table on 42 points from 26 games.
“We have improved compared to three, four months ago. We are in a much better place than months ago,” the 47-year-old added.
“There are more reasons, but the most simple two are how fit we are and that we’re much better at set-pieces at the moment.”
Forest are languishing in 17th spot, one place and three points above West Ham United in the relegation zone.
