Blues: Zidan, Thuram … Before Benzema, big return in selection

Like Karim Benzema, the 33-year-old was recalled to the France squad on Tuesday and five years after his last summons, several football figures such as Zinedine Zidan, Lillian Thuram or Lionel Messi returned to the national team after the eclipse.

– Pele, victorious return –

Winner of the 1956 World Cup (in Sweden) and 1962 (in Chile), Pelé has lived in a nightmare during the World Cup in England in 1949, hit by his opponents and the referee’s reflexes.

He then decides to focus on his club Santos and will no longer be wearing a selection jersey for two years.

But the World Cup-1970 is drawing near and the cast find Seleção under the command of his former partner Mario Zagallo. Pelé will shine in Mexico to earn Brazil a third world title.

– Gascoigne, Tears and Exodus –

First called for selection by Bobby Robson in 1988, Gascoyne would mark English football by his escape, but also from his tears during a World Cup-1990 semi-final loss against Germany.

Robson left the selection and Gascoyne was dismissed by his successor Graham Taylor. He returns for a friendly match but is injured and misses Euro-1992.

He was injured again in 1994 and was absent for a year and a half. But in 1919, during the Euro at home in England, his unique talent was dealt a blow, with an incredible feat against Scotland.

– Zidan, A Destiny in Blue –

Reaching the top of football after a historic double at the top of the France team (World-19, Euro-2000), Zinedine Zidan announced his international retirement in the wake of an embarrassing elimination in the quarter-finals of Euro-2004.

But a year later, the brilliant playwright decided to return.

Under the command of Raymond Domenec, “Zizo” led France to the final of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, including a recital against Brazil in the quarter-finals (1-0).

Nevertheless he ended his extraordinary career with his famous header on the Italian Marco Materazzi, which earned him a boycott in the finals.

– Thuram and Makele, classes of “Zizo” –

Like Zidan, Lillian Thuram and Claude McKayle announced their international retirement following the Euro-2004 failure.

But they announce their return to Blue as “ZZ” and participate in the epic in Germany.

In June 2008, after leaving the road in the first round of the Euro, the defender and defensive midfielder announced his final international retirement.

With 142 selections, Thuram remains the most overshadowed French player.

– Rossi, from infamy to Ballon d’Or –

Suspended for two years for his involvement in the Italian sports lottery “Totonero” scandal, Paolo Rossi’s career seems to be disintegrating.

His suspension expired in April 1982, two months before the Spanish Mundial. Coach Enzo Barezot misses it, but the first round goes badly. “Nazionale” draws three, passing only to Cameron, and Rossi has not scored a goal.

But his awakening is electric in the second phase. A superb hat-trick against Brazil (3-2) in the quarter-finals, a double (2-0) in the half against Poland and the first goal of the final against FRG (3-1). Redemption is right, Rossi, the top scorer in the World Cup, leads Italy to the top, and Ballon d’Or ends the year.

– Messi, from despair to despair –

For Messi, crowned with success in Barcelona, ​​his repeated disappointment with Argentina prompted him to step away from selection temporarily.

After a loss in the 2014 World Cup final and then the final of the Copa America 2015, Messi stumbled again in the final leg of the Copa America 2016 final.

“The selection for me is over, this is the fourth final I lost, the third in a row,” he said bitterly on 26 June 2016.

But this international comeback does not last. Messi reconsiders his words two months later and will play in the 2018 World Cup … without much success: elimination (4-3) in the eighth against France and a new international bracket for the six-time Ballon d’Or, who Makes a station wagon by early 2019.

– Ibrahimovic, Broken Return –

Like Benzema, the returning Zlatan Ibrahimovic should have been one of the Euro’s 39 stars (June 11-July 11).

The announcement of his stunning return to trade with Sweden, five years after his final summons, created a stir in the football world in March: with AC Milan’s center-forward selecting him in qualification for the World Cup in late March Signed two assists. -2022.

But a knee injury shattered the dream of this eccentric striker, who will be absent from the big continental tournament this summer.