Farewell 'King Karim': Benzema's stunning France comeback cut brutally short

While there was immense joy to be found in watching the David of Switzerland beat the Goliath of France - the world champions ousted by a team that had not won a knockout game since the 1938 World Cup - there was also one big disappointment.

Karim Benzema’s international comeback has been cut brutally short, just as he hit the form that has made him one of the world’s best strikers in recent years.

After struggling to make an impact in the first two Euro 2020 matches, against Germany and Hungary, Benzema found his groove against Portugal with a brace. Having spent almost six years frozen out of the team, the Real Madrid forward needed to bed in again with Les Bleus.

Against Switzerland in the last 16 on Monday, he personally did more than enough to fire France through to the quarter-finals, but they will not be in Saint Petersburg, facing Spain. Instead it is Vladimir Petkovic’s Switzerland there, after the 3-3 draw and penalty triumph in Bucharest.

Benzema scored two goals, the first a contender for the goal of the tournament (were it not for Patrik Schick’s near 50-yard strike), in a tour de force performance up front, the kind he has produced week in, week out for Real Madrid since Cristiano Ronaldo left.

The kind that convinced coach Didier Deschamps to turn back to Benzema and persuade him to link up with the national team again.

“I only make sporting choices, that is why Benzema has been called up," Deschamps told RMC Sport after making the decision. "It was deep conviction that led me to recall Benzema."

Benzema’s absence from the team was due to his alleged involvement in blackmailing former France team-mate Mathieu Valbuena, a charge he denies. Understandable, therefore, but in sporting terms he has been France’s outstanding striker for years.

There was also a political element to the debate over his exclusion, with Benzema accusing Deschamps of not picking him for Euro 2016 because he "folded to the pressure of a racist part of France".

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“We cannot forget, I cannot forget. I will never forget it,” said Deschamps as recently as January, but the pair eventually hammered out their disagreements in a frank, intense and honest chat.

Benzema leaves the Euros too soon, with four goals to his name. Only Portugal’s Ronaldo, on five and also heading home, has more.

He showed France what they have been missing over the past half decade. Of course, they won the World Cup in 2018 without him, with Kylian Mbappe bursting into the limelight. But perhaps they would have beaten Portugal in the Euro 2016 final, too, a game decided in extra-time and badly missing the creativity Benzema can offer.

Benzema has peaked late in his career, at 33, although that is partly because for years at Madrid he had to play second fiddle to Ronaldo. The France forward worked relentlessly to supply the Portuguese, running channels and sacrificing himself for Cristiano’s benefit. Once given the crown himself, 'King Karim' has not looked back.

With France, Deschamps brought him in from the wilderness because it was obvious he offered more than Olivier Giroud, but could also play with Mbappe. Benzema’s years of putting balls on silver platters for Ronaldo implied he could coexist with the Paris Saint-Germain star.

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While some in France thought Benzema might be the odd one out and cause disharmony in the squad, that did not prove true at all. Instead it was Mbappe, having fallen out with Giroud ahead of the tournament, failing to find the net at all in the Euros, and missing the penalty that saw France eliminated, who has come under the most scrutiny.

With France a goal down and scrambling against Switzerland, it was Benzema who brought them level with a mind-bending touch that had to be viewed several times to be understood.

With Benzema darting into the box, Mbappe skewed his pass wide of the mark, but the veteran striker improvised with a sensational piece of control that not only redirected the stray pass but put himself one-on-one, and he finished clinically.

The second goal, a back-post header, showed a different skill-set, that of a poacher, something Benzema has learned since Ronaldo’s departure with his job now to be the man to score the goals for Real Madrid.

L'Equipe's notoriously harsh player ratings handed Benzema an eight out of 10, with the next closest French player, Paul Pogba, on six.

Deschamps may not be coach of France by the time the 2022 World Cup in Qatar comes around, but Benzema should still be leading the line.

Still boasting the technique and creativity of a support striker, while proving his status as a leading man and a big game player, Benzema has everything. He is France’s sixth all-time top goalscorer despite missing close to six years with the national team.

We have been denied the chance to watch Benzema on the international stage for too long, and the one downside of Switzerland’s heroic victory is Benzema being frozen out again.