The Algerian international of Manchester City Riyad Mahrez reacted to the return of Karim Benzema to the France team after nearly six years of sidelining this Sunday.
Tuesday, the coach of the Blues Didier Deschamps disclosed the list of 26 players of the France team selected for the Euro (June 11 – July 11), including the Real Madrid striker. A return that provoked a cascade of reactions and a controversy in France.
“It’s something good for him, for the France team. I think he deserved to be in the France team it’s been a long time,” said Mahrez in an interview.
“After, I do not know what it was the why of the how but it is sure that the France team needs Benzema”, underlines the Algerian international, placing France among the favorites of the next Euro which must argue this summer.
“I think they are favorites after favorite does not mean they will win, but for the quality of their workforce, it’s heavy and I think they have the qualities to go all the way”, says Mahrez.
Riyad Mahrez also returned during the interview on the Champions League final that Manchester City will play for the first time in its history. “If we win the Champions League, all of us players will become the legend of the club. It would be something incredible,” said the Manchester City striker.
The Algerian international also spoke about his club coach Pep Guardiola, and the role played by the latter alongside national team coach Djamel Belmadi in his progress.
“Pep is a great coach. He’s someone who makes you progress a lot tactically, even in your way of seeing football, the game. Pep has an influence on our game, on the club, obviously, he has made everyone progress, ” says Riyad Mahrez.
“Djamel Belmadi and Pep Guardiola were complementary in the roles they played respectively in my progression. Djamel is a great coach, a manager, someone who knows how to talk to you when needed. He knows how to talk to you, how to motivate you. He’s had this leadership thing since he was a player. These are two coaches who really made me progress,” explains the Algerian striker.
Riyad Mahrez finally addressed during the interview his objectives with the Algerian national team, explaining that he and the Greens wish “always to look for new things”, in particular, to maintain the current series of invincibility.
“Subconsciously, when we manage to make these games unbeaten, it’s like with City when we were 20 games unbeaten, we say to ourselves that we must continue. 23 wins in a row, you keep thinking about it and it motivates you. So obviously yes, we think about it and we want to try to keep this invincibility,” says the captain of Algeria.
“We are there to always go looking for new things. We cannot be satisfied with an African Cup or twenty games without defeat. We want to go find other things. We want to go to the World Cup. We want to try to do something for the next African Cup. This generation deserves that, this coach and this organization deserve that,” says Mahrez.
