Karim Benzema lit up Stade de France in successive matchdays with his performance despite France falling to a surprise defeat against Denmark on Friday night. The 34-year-old striker produced one of best solo goals in a recent international football matches despite Les Bleu suffering a disappointing 2-1 loss in their Nations League outing.
Barely a week ago, the exploits of Benzema inspired Real Madrid to their 14th Champions League title inside Stade de France and it is at the same venue that the striker almost propelled France to a win in their Nations League opener. After an eventful first half which saw a potential opener by the forward ruled for offside, Didier Deschamps side was given the edge just six minutes into the second half by the Madrid star.
The player received the ball on the right side, played a lovely one-two with RB Leipzig star Christopher Nkunku, dribbled past a handful of Danish players before blasting home to put France ahead. The goal meant that he has now scored in five consecutive matches for the World Cup winners as his renaissance continues and has so far scored 50 goals for both club and country this season.
Watch the strike below:
This goal from Benzema was too pretty pic.twitter.com/25hschKWxf
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 3, 2022
The genuis of Benzema, however, was not enough to land France the maximum three points in their Nations League group opener as Denmark will stage a comeback to hand them their first competitive defeat since 2016. The visitors equalised through substitute Andreas Cornelius in the 68th minute before the Trabzonspor steal snatched the maximum three points with an 88th minute winner.
France's miseries were also compounded by the fact that both Kylian Mbappe and Raphael Varane will not be avaialble for their next outing as a result of injuries. The current world champions will travel to Croatia for their next game on Monday, while Denmark faces travel away to take on leaders Austria, who beat the Croatians 3-0 in their first game of the campaign.
