Injured Karim Benzema substituted as France beat Bulgaria 3-0

By Associated Press

LONDON: Karim Benzema’s return to international football continues to go awry as the France forward limped off injured in his team’s 3-0 victory over Bulgaria.

Benzema had a penalty saved and hit the post last week in his first appearance for France in nearly six years.

He lasted just 41 minutes on Tuesday before being forced off.

But France coach Didier Deschamps, with whom Benzema had a fallout over the player’s alleged role in a sex-tape scandal, has brushed off concerns, indicating that it is just a dead leg.

Benzema’s replacement, Olivier Giroud, scored a late double in the final seven minutes to secure victory for the world champions after Antoine Griezmann had opened the scoring in the 29th.

The 34-year-old Giroud has now scored 46 goals for France, just five behind Thierry Henry’s all-time record.

The Czech Republic beat Albania 3-1, while Iceland drew 2-2 in Poland and Hungary was held to a 0-0 by Ireland in Budapest.

The Irish players were booed by a section of Hungarian supporters for taking a knee before kick-off to support the sport’s anti-racism campaign.

“The fact it was booed is incomprehensible,” Ireland manager Stephen Kenny said.

“It’s disappointing and it doesn’t reflect well on Hungary, really.”

“Our players wanted to do it. It’s an important stance and I commend them for taking that stance.”

The incident followed the England team being booed at home by some fans for making the anti-racism gesture during two warmup games.