Ahead of facing him on Tuesday evening in a Spain shirt, Sergio Ramos has reflected that French criticism of Karim Benzema is ‘crazy’.
The Real Madrid striker continues to struggle for form for his national team and has become the subject of much criticism in his homeland.
Ahead of preparing to try and stop him on Tuesday evening, Madrid teammate Ramos has stood up for him.
“To question a player like Benzema is crazy. For Madrid and for France he is an extraordinary striker who makes the difference,” Ramos asserted to reporters today.
“Everyone is free to say what they want, but there are few forwards who can reach his level.
“You have to be at the highest concentration because in front of goal he does not hang around.”
In contrast, Raphael Varane continues to grow in confidence and made his international debut on Friday for Les Bleus.
“He is showing very good performance and hopefully he will maintain it for years to come because he will be very important for Real Madrid. He has tremendous potential and has it all in his hand.”
Spain go into Tuesday’s game against France two points behind them after failing to defeat Finland last week.
“They are a strong squad, it will be very complicated and difficult. I cannot pick an XI for France because we do not know, we’ll see what XI play, but we will not rely on the opposition.
“There is not extra motivation for Friday’s result against Finland, there is ambition and we always want to win.
“We would have preferred to have achieved a win for the good feeling, but we have to leave that now and keep it to one side. We have to win and improve the feeling.
“The latest results should not influence things. The squad has kept its focus in times of criticism, in difficult moments.
“That force is the group that has made us great and we must keep to it.
“The numbers are there, but football has no memory and you have to prove yourself every day. What you did yesterday does not count.
“People are free to think what they want, but you cannot forget that we have won the European Championship, World Cup and European Championship and that is something nobody else has done.
“We have marked an era. We still have to keep working every day because the [world champions] shield on the shirt does not win games.”
Ramos was asked of Xavi Hernandez’ hopes of playing on Tuesday, and the fact that Spain captain Iker Casillas will meet up with the squad ahead of the game too.
“The word captain means certain values and Xavi and Iker embody those. Xavi has done everything possible so as to play, and the gesture of Casillas is very positive.
“Such gestures are always good for the group.”
