By placing Kylian Mbappé ahead of Karim Benzema in its Athlete of the Year ranking, the French sports daily has sparked enormous controversy. And many journalists cry foul.
In the space of 24 hours, what is ultimately an innocuous arrangement has almost become a matter of state. Like every year, L’Équipe unveiled its World and French Champion of Champions rankings on Friday. Lionel Messi has won the most honorary title while Kylian Mbappé won the award for best athlete tricolor. More specifically, the Paris Saint-Germain player had almost double the points of his runner-up Karim Benzema, winner of the Ballon d’Or and winner of the Champions League, followed closely by KB9 by Quentin Fillon-Maillet, star of the winter olympics in biathlon. And seeing that is an understatement Mbappe far ahead of Benzema made waves, the journalists of the L’Equipe group have clearly abandoned the former Lyonnais at the expense of the Parisian star. Enough to unleash heavy fire among other journalists, but also internally. Thierry Bretagne, former sports daily, opened fire on Europa 1 and was not nice.
Mbappé for Benzema, he’s going crazy
For him, this first position of Kylian Mbappé in the ranking of French athletes is an absolute disgrace and total bullshit. ” I found L’Equipe’s ranking regrettable. In the past, the newspaper published the title of world champion one day and that of champion of the French champions the next. There L’Equipe makes the trailer of what Qatar will do in Paris, which is to celebrate “heroes reunited”, but there is one who has won and the other who has lost. Excuse me, but Kylian Mbappé has only won one thing in two years, it’s a lot of money. And so he became the wheel-sucker, useful idiot that is Lionel Messi. Messi shut down last season to be ready for the World Cup. So PSG celebrates the useful idiot with the wheel piston, it doesn’t work. Benzema has won the Champions League, Benzema is the top scorer in the Spanish league and he has won titles. Mr. Benzema, I have already had an argument with his former agent, Djaziri, who called me early in the morning 15 years ago in response to an article. I told him to call my director because I wasn’t going to give him an analysis while brushing my teeth. I don’t care about Djaziri, but what matters in football is the result. And the result is that Benzema won and Mbappé lost, and I can’t help it being that way “, was offended Thierry Bretagne, stunned by this result. But even within the sports daily, some journalists find it difficult to understand this result to which they nevertheless contributed.
The king of football has left us, but his legacy will never be forgotten.
RIP KING ❤️… pic.twitter.com/F55PrcM2Ud— Kylian Mbappe (@KMbappe) December 29, 2022
In L’Equipe du Soir, the debate was very fierce when it came to commenting on this widespread dominance of Kylian Mbappe vs Karim Benzema. For Hugo Guillemet, a journalist who follows OL news, this ranking makes no sense. ” I am not questioning the vote, because it is beyond dispute. On the other hand, I didn’t vote for that because I didn’t choose out of emotion after Mbappé’s hat-trick in the final. But throughout the season, Karim Benzema won La Liga and the Champions League, and I heard we voted for the Champion of Champions, and on top of that, he beat Mbappé’s PSG in the Champions League. Mbappé won Ligue 1 and certainly scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final, but for me it is too little compared to Karim Benzema (…) Will we remember Mbappé’s 2022 World Cup in 20 years as we remembered Zidane’s in 2006? Mbappé helped us against Poland, but he did not exist against the English and against Morocco. In the final, 80 minutes long, we did not see him launched the journalist, who then clarified that he voted for Benzema and placed Mbappé only third behind Quentin Fillon-Maillet.
Eric Blanc, former rugby player and consultant to the sports channel show, also went in this direction. ” Benzema is the champion of champions, he was simply let down by his physique, but especially not by his coach who let him down. He shone, he was inspiring, he was the leader, the captain of Real Madrid, he was exceptional. “Football, this year it’s Benzema, while Mbappé gets two penalties out of three goals, only one of which is in play. Four years earlier it was Griezmann who took the penalties” “, was offended, live on air, Eric Blanc, stunned that the newspaper’s journalists mainly went to Kylian Mbappé after a year in which Karim Benzema succeeded Zinedine Zidane as the last French footballer to win the Ballon d’Or. And Didier Roustan, legend of journalism, to also express his surprise.
I did it, for the people 🙌🏼🤍 pic.twitter.com/xxx9fMVwPV
— Karim Benzema (@Benzema) December 2, 2022
For him, Karim Benzema deserved to finish ahead of Kylian Mbappé. “ This story of the three goals in the final, fine, but it has two penalties. Suppose the French specialist who draws him is the right back, will we like Mbappé in the final? Benzema had such an influence on Real Madrid and his teammates, while Mbappé didn’t have the same influence (…) I think playing the eighth, quarter etc in the Champions League is stronger than in the World Cup, apart from England. In the final, for 80 minutes, there is nothing in the France team. Both have had a great season, but I’m more Benzema. What Mbappé did in the World Cup is great, I’m not denigrating it “, confided Didier Roustan, visibly surprised by the difference in points between the two footballers, Mbappé has almost double Benzema, the latter being threatened even very close to Fillon-Maillet.
