France and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema on Monday officially announced his retirement from international football.
Benzema had missed out on the World Cup through suffering a thigh injury in France’s first training session in Qatar, subsequently ruling him out of the entire tournament.
Despite rumors of him coming back to join Didier Deschamps and camp for the final against Argentina on Sunday, Benzema brushed off the idea of him returning to the squad in an Instagram post saying “Not interested” in French.
The absence of the reigning Ballon d’Or winner did not have much of on effect on Le Bleu, with Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud stepping up to lead the line, scoring 12 goal amongst themselves.
However, Deschamps and his charges failed to defend their world title when they lost 4-2 on penalties to Argentina 4 -2, after a nail-biting final in Lusail Stadium on Sunday.
The 35-year-old Algerian born goal scoring machine made his senior national team debut at the age of 19 in 2007, registering a total of 37 goal for his country.
Karim Benzema announces that he’s retiring from international football on his 35th birthday.
The Frenchman scored 37 goals in 97 games since making his debut in 2007 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/QNiOPCp10S
— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 19, 2022
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