One month after raising the Ballon d’Or in triumph to crown his remarkable rise, Karim benzema’s dream of winning the World Cup is over before he has even played a game in Qatar. Defending champion France’s World Cup hopes took a huge blow with the news that its star striker Benzema is out of the tournament after tearing a muscle in his left thigh during training on Saturday.

“After hurting the quadriceps on his left thigh the Real Madrid striker is forced to give up on taking part in the World Cup,” the French soccer federation (FFF) said. Benzema was participating in his first full training session with Les Bleus when he had to come off after feeling some pain in his left thigh, the FFF said.