Star France striker Karim Benzema out of World Cup with thigh tear

“He went for an MRI scan in a hospital [clinic] in Doha, which unfortunately confirmed a tear,” the FFF said, adding that he will need three weeks to recover.

“I’ve never given up in my life but tonight I have to think of the team, as I have always done,” Benzema posted on his Instagram account. “So reason tells me to give my place to someone who can help our squad have a great World Cup. Thanks for all your messages of support.”

France coach Didier Deschamps said: “I’m very sad for Karim who had made this World Cup a major objective,”

Benzema had hardly played at all in recent weeks and this was his first full training session with Les Bleus. Since winning the Ballon d’Or last month, Benzema has played fewer than 30 minutes for Madrid, after coming off the bench in a Champions League game.

France faces Australia on Tuesday in Group D, then Denmark four days later, and Tunisia on Nov. 30.

It is a crushing blow for Benzema, only the fifth Frenchman to win the Ballon d’Or award and the first since Zinedine Zidane, his idol, in 1998.

The hugely talented Benzema, who is of Algerian descent, came through Lyon’s renowned youth academy and scored the first of his Champions League goals as an audaciously gifted 17-year-old. He’s now fourth all-time with 86.

Benzema was France’s top scorer at the 2014 World Cup but did not play in France’s victorious 2018 World Cup campaign because he was still exiled from the team for his alleged role in a sex-tape scandal with then-France teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

The fallout from the sex-tape scandal led to a dramatic fall from grace for Benzema. He faced a nationwide deluge of vitriol and scathing criticism, including on the political level. It led to a long exclusion from the national team from October 2015 until his recall by Deschamps in May last year.

With his relationship with Deschamps repaired he scored freely for France, with 10 goals in 16 games since coming back to reach 37 overall, and formed a great partnership with Kylian Mbappe.

At last year’s European Championship, Benzema looked sharp and was France’s top scorer with four goals. Now he joins the list of big names injured shortly before the World Cup — like Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane and Germany’s Timo Werner. Not to mention Benzema’s own teammates, Paul Pogba, N’Gole Kante, and Christopher Nkunku.

Even without Benzema, France still has a strong attack to face Australia. France is likely to start with Olivier Giroud as the central striker, flanked by 2018 World Cup star Mbappe and either Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele or veteran Antoine Griezmann.

Giroud has scored 49 goals for France, Griezmann has 42, and the 23-year-old Mbappe already has 28. Dembele has been in fine form for Spanish league leader Barcelona this season.

In a bizarre news conference the day before the World Cup is set to begin in Qatar, FIFA president Gianni Infantino dismissed concerns about Qatar’s human-rights record, compared himself to marginalized people and took aim at critics of the country’s hosting of the tournament.

Responding to scrutiny of the treatment of migrants who are working on the World Cup and of LGBTQ people and women in Qatar, Infantino, who is Italian and Swiss, said he knew what it meant to be discriminated against because he was bullied at school as a child for having red hair and freckles.

“Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel a migrant worker,” Infantino told journalists.

In wide-ranging remarks, he appeared to cast questions about the treatment of migrant workers and discrimination against LGBTQ people as attempts to sow division in the world and to portray people concerned about those alleged human-rights violations as wanting “to spit on others.”

At the same time, he pledged that FIFA defends human rights and requires Qatar to welcome all people to the World Cup, which runs until Dec. 18. Qatar is the first Arab country to host a World Cup, according to FIFA.

Infantino’s comments quickly drew criticisms of their own; Sky News sports reporter Melissa Reddy called it “an absolutely astounding address.”

On Saturday, Infantino also accused Europeans who have criticized Qatar, and FIFA’s decision to hold the World Cup there, of hypocrisy.

“I think for what we Europeans have been doing in the last 3,000 years around the world we should be apologizing for next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons,” Infantino said.

He also said he was not defending Qatar but was “defending football.”

“You can crucify me. I’m here for that. Don’t criticize Qatar, don’t criticize the players,” he said. “Criticize FIFA, criticize me if you want because I’m responsible for everything, but let the people enjoy this World Cup.”

Infantino said he had confirmed with Qatar’s leaders that all fans would be welcome, regardless of religion, race or sexual orientation.

As host, Qatar will kick off the event, playing in Sunday’s only game, against Ecuador, at 11 a.m. Eastern time.