Benzema slams former boss

French striker says former boss was reason he left Lyon early

By Giscard Gourizro   Last updated: 5th October 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Benzema slams former boss

Benzema: Hits out at Puel

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Karim Benzema has hit out at Lyon manager Claude Puel by declaring that he was the reason why he left the club a year early.

Puel took over Lyon last summer with the club having won the last seven Ligue 1 titles.

However the former Lille boss only managed to lead Les Gones to a third place finish last term before seeing Benzema depart to Madrid for £35million in the summer.

The French striker admitted that he grew too comfortable at Lyon and declared that even if he trained poorly he knew he would be selected in the starting XI.

"I was not happy with Claude Puel. We did not get on," he told RMC.

"I wanted to have one more year at Lyon but to be honest I did not have the love to there anymore in Lyon.

"I was first choice despite what? Even if I didn't perform in training, I was not training well sometimes so (what can you say)?"

Improvement

Benzema has also admitted that he has patched things up with France manager Raymond Domenech.

The 22-year-old had stated that he had not felt like playing in Les Bleus' World Cup qualifier against Serbia in September after a poor display but Domenech offered the frontman a second chance and Benzema insists the situation between the pair is a lot better.

"However I like Raymond Domenech, our relationship is a lot better," he added.