Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema came out hard on his former French National teammate Olivier Giroud. He said he and the Chelsea striker are not comparable. He described himself as Formula One while he described Giroud as go-karting.
For those who are not too familiar with go-karting, it is a variant of motorsport road racing with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart racing is also raced in full-size motorsport circuits.
Karim Benzema decided to tag Olivier Giroud as go-karting when YouTuber Mohamed Henni asked him to talk about Giroud in the French National team via Instagram Live.
Recall that Benzema has been out of favour in the French National team since December 2015 after he allegedly attempted to blackmail a team-mate, Mathieu Valbuena, over a sex tape.
Even when the French federation president Noel Le Graet said in October 2016 that coach Didier Deschamps was free to call him up again after his suspension from the team, the coach said the player is no longer a part of the team’s plan.
Due to the absence of Benzema from the National team, Olivier Giroud has surpassed Benzema’s 27 goals in 81 appearances, to become the 3rd highest goal scorer in France with 39 goals in 93 appearances.
Karim Benzema Says Don’t Confuse F1 and Go-Karting
Still, Benzema won’t allow is over four years absent from the French National team to make him look down on himself or give Giroud unnecessary credit.
He said: “You shouldn’t confuse F1 and go karting and that’s me being kind. On to the next topic. I’m not talking about him (Giroud) anymore. I just know that I’m F1.
“He has his career, he does what he wants and scores the goals that he wants to score. He’s in his corner and I’m in mine; I’m not thinking about him. If we’re talking about playing style, his suits France well.
“It’s good because there are fast players like (Kylian) Mbappe and (Antoine) Griezmann who play out wide or feed off the centre-forward. When Giroud is upfront, he’s a handful for defences, which gives the other two plenty of space to show what they can do.
“He occupies defenders and it works. It might not be brilliant to watch and you won’t say, ‘Wow, that was incredible.’ Does everyone like that style of play? I don’t know, but it suits France well.”
