isport

French striker Karim Benzema has said that he is extremely disappointed about having to face Spain in the quarter finals of the competition because he expected to face the Spanish in the final of the competition, according to the Arsenal news website.

France will be taking on Cesc Fabregas‘s Spain in the quarter-finals of the Euro 2012 knowing that the winner of the tie will be facing Portugal. Many are expecting France to come to the fore in this match because it has been a game that has always finished on the right side for French. France have not lost to Spain in the last seven matches, and Karim Benzema will be hoping that this record continues.

However, it did not turn out that way after France were defeated 2-0 on the night, which also marked their second consecutive defeat after going 22 matches unbeaten previously. Many have attributed it to the altercation within the players after the 2-0 defeat at the hands of Sweden in the final group match. Karim Benzema has said that the French have left themselves to blame after the defeat at the hands of Sweden, which caused them to finish second in the group. If they had won the match, then they would have faced Italy in the quarter finals.

“It’s a disaster for the French and me personally. I wanted to play Spain but not at this stage of the tournament. I was dreaming of playing them in the final — not now. Our goal was always to qualify for the knockout stages and while that has been achieved we didn’t really expect to go into the last group game and perform so badly. We didn’t even turn up for the match so now we have to address the situation by facing the most dangerous side in this competition,” said Karim Benzema after the match.

French international and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has said that the club are now behind the disappointment of exiting the Champions League on penalties. Bayern Munich managed to knock out Real Madrid on penalties after the 3-3 aggregate draw.

Ronaldo scored the two goals for Real Madrid in the second leg, while Arjen Robben scored from the penalty spot for Bayern Munich. It meant that Real Madrid have now been eliminated from the Champions League in the semi-final stage in the past two seasons. Despite this, they still have the league title to look forward to according to Karim Benzema.

The French international has been a revelation for Real Madrid this season. José Mourinho has often used Karim Benzema for the big matches this season, which has meant that Gonzalo Higuain has been relegated to the bench. The Argentine is expected to leave the club in the summer, which will pave way for Karim Benzema to establish himself in the Real Madrid team. After his early doubts, the French international seems to be coming of age and is having a lot of matured performances in the all-white strips of Real Madrid.

“We got to the semi-final with high hopes and were so close to the final, but these things happen. I think we have learned from it, though, and now we need to win the league to get over the disappointment. It is now very close and we must be happy about that because from early on in the season, the league was our priority. On Wednesday and Thursday nights after the Bayern defeat, we were all sad and dejected by our elimination, but this sadness has now been put to one side,” Benzema said in an interview with AS. Benzema is expected to lead France’s attack at the Euro 2012.