Can Benzema and Griezmann cohabit?

Since the announcement of Didier Deschamps’ list of 26 to participate in the Euro, everyone has been salivating. Indeed, the national coach decided to recall Karim Benzema, nearly six years after his last appearance in the tricolor jersey. So, obviously we expected a lot from the trident Mbappé-Griezmann-Benzema, on the front of the attack.

In the preparation match, Karim Benzema had a bit of trouble, he missed a penalty against Wales before coming out quickly injured against Bulgaria. Kylian Mbappé, he absolutely wanted to combine with the Madrilenian and only scored one goal. As for the Barcelonan, he seemed to be the fittest offensive element and showed it. Like he’s the boss.

Griezmann too right?

The competition began, Griezmann found himself exiled on the right side and the sequences were still sought between Benzema and Mbappé. Therefore, one really wonders if the Blaugrana and the Merengue can really live together. One statistic is particularly surprising: during the first three meetings, the two cities exchanged only twelve passes.

If we except the meeting against the Mannschaft, during which the Blues strove to defend and counter-attack, the other two meetings allowed the Blues to set foot on the ball and build. It is in this precise match pattern that we expect exchanges between the two “Spaniards” of the France team.

Their profiles in question

However, as the aforementioned figure clearly shows, these exchanges do not really exist until now. They might come against Switzerland. We often see the two players chatting on the pitch, but aren’t their profiles a bit too similar for this to work? This is the question that many observers are currently asking.

Indeed, the influence of Griezmann was already enormous in the past, but there it seems eroded by this eccentric positioning on the right. It was much better in the second half against Hungary and Portugal, where he was positioned in the center. But playing with Olivier Giroud and with Karim Benzema, in terms of benchmarks, is not the same thing.

Where the Chelsea striker serves as a pivot and moves very little on the front of the attack, Karim Benzema, him, zoned out and won. He was often found very low before organizing the attacks, which was, until then, the prerogative of Griezmann. We have also seen him go into exile on the left side and leave the axis to Kylian Mbappé. In fact, either the two players step on it lightly, or they are too far apart to combine. With the possible return to 4-2-3-1, seen against Portugal, Didier Deschamps may have found the solution to bring his two attackers together.