After a summer off following his omission from France’s Euro 2016 squad, Karim Benzema is back with his Real Madrid team-mates as the European Champions head to Canada for pre-season.
Benzema was left out of France manager Didier Deschamps’ squad having been suspended from national team duty due to his alleged involvement in an extortion scam, related to a sex tape involving France team-mate Mathieu Valbuena.
But now he’s beginning to prepare for the new club season with his Real Madrid team-mates and flew to Montreal with the squad on Sunday.
Karim Benzema has flown to Montreal with Real Madrid, having been left out of France’s Euro 2016 squad
Marcelo, Casemiro and Danilo (right to left) relax during Real Madrid’s luxury flight to Canada on Sunday
While the likes of Gareth Bale, Sergio Ramos and Pepe are still on holiday following Euro 2016, and with Cristiano Ronaldo injured, Benzema is the most recognisable Madrid star to travel.
The striker shared an image of himself on Instagram, captioned ‘let’s go’ while the club posted a picture of Marcelo, Casemiro and Danilo relaxing on the club’s luxury plane during the flight.
Raphael Varane, who missed Euro 2016 through injury, and Isco also travelled with the squad, who will train for the first time in Canada on Monday.
The 25-man squad includes five goalkeepers as well as a number of young players, including Norwegian 17-year-old Martin Odegaard who signed for the club for £3million when aged just 16.
Zidane has clashed with club president Florentino Perez over the inclusion of Odegaard, who insisted the youngster must be taken on tour to satisfy a clause in his contract which guarantees him involvement with the first team.
It is also hoped his presence will help him secure a new club for next season but, while Zidane agrees that he should be loaned out, does not see the point of involving a player who is extremely unlikely to be part of his first team plans.
While in North America, Los Blancos play Paris Saint-Germain in Ohio before taking on Chelsea in Michigan, with their training camp taking place in Montreal prior to their first game.
Real then play Bayern Munich at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in their final tour game before returning to Europe for the Super Cup clash with Sevilla in Norway on August 9.
Zidane’s side open their league campaign away at Real Sociedad on August 21, with their first game against bitter rivals Barcelona scheduled for the start of December.
