In 2022, the departure of Karim Benzema from the Blues gathering for the World Cup in Qatar, due to injury, caused a wave of incomprehension. At the time, Daniel Riolo did not hesitate to point the finger at Didier Deschamps for his lack of transparency regarding the case of the former Real Madrid striker:“Deschamps lied to us from A to Z, but lying is something he handles perfectly.”
These words which did not go unanswered. The boss of the Blues had filed a complaint against the editorialist of RMC
for defamation. A procedure which must continue on November 20 in court. But long before this affair, the two men had already had a first clash, during a tense phone call. Riolo returns to this episode in his book Football in my opinionmentioned this Friday in the show The Nights of Chained Cazarre.
“There I hear the guy melting at a threatening moment”
The journalist then followed up on a question from Jean-Christophe Drouet: “They say it’s a positive book, but you settle some scores all the same. The origins of your disagreement with Deschamps and you talk about the day of this famous phone call that you received for what you said the day before in the After. »
“It was following a sentence that I had said one evening in the After. When it was revealed that he knew about Knysna. I said: “in any case, every time there is a shady affair that affects French football, he is not far away”. He lost his temper and what’s more, he blames me for this sentence in court. I was at the Park with my children and my parents the next day, the phone rings in silence and there I hear the guy melting at a threatening moment. And then, the shock, I walked away saying: “wait, wait, the coach of the France team is physically threatening a journalist? “. There he came back down when I said that because he must have become aware. He said to me: “No, I’m not threatening you, but you have to be careful because you’re saying things…” and that’s it.”confided Riolo.
