BLOW FOR FRANCE

Thigh Muscle Tear Puts Ballon d’Or Winner Out Of France’s Title Defence

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Doha: Imagine being Karim Benzema. There's probably always a handful of versions of the man egos, alter-egos and others but for matters of context we will summon only two today. So, which Benzema would you ideally want to be? Currently, officially the best player in the world, finally a Ballon d'Or winner, after living out a footballing lifetime that had once seemed destined to wither away unheralded in the large, looming shadows of teammates and other illustrious peers? Or, the unlikely Les Bleus elder, returning from exile as a reformed, chastened prodigal, wiser, in control of the elements around him and picking up pending responsibility as if he had never been banished? It doesn't end there, and therein lies the conundrum. If you were Benzema, what would you rather pick-long-awaited, and much-deserved, debate-ending personal glory or that somewhat sweeter emotion of a chance to end it all with a World Cup triumph? In Benzema's case, you cannot have both. And that the man. For the first time since 1978, a Ballon D'or winner will not figure in the World Cup. Danish great Allan Simonsen had not torn his left thigh muscle in training, as happened to Benzema on Saturday, to be ruled out because Denmark only first qualified in 1986.