SAUDI ARABIA
Penalty miss and assist as Benzema is back from Al Ittihad wilderness
The 2022 Ballon d’Or winner was back in the Al Ittihad side for the first time in over a month and delivered an assist as part of a 3-1 home win.
Karim Benzema was back in action with Al Ittihad for the first time for over a month as the Jeddah based side faced Al Fayha in the Saudi Pro League.
The French star has apparently left behind him the dressing room tension with Argentine boss Marcelo Gallardo finally giving the forward a start after the player overcame several muscle injuries, which have hampered him since Christmas with quarters of the Saudi press disputing the veracity of these injury claims.
The player has also seen his relationship with the Al Ittihad faithful slowly deteriorate with the striker failing to deliver on the pitch despite being the superstar signing last summer as Al Ittihad trail Al Hilal by 22 points in the league and it was the Riyadh club who ended their AFC Champions League journey with a two legged quarter-final defeat.
Back in yellow and black
Benzema was gifted a golden opportunity to redeem himself in the 20th minutes of Friday’s home game against Al Feiha but the Lyon born player saw Vladimir Stojkovic guess correctly to save the spot kick. This was the No. 9′s consecutive penalty miss with Benzema yet to find the target in his limited playing time in 2024.
The French striker did have a role to play in the Tigers second goal as part of a 2-1 win as he delivered the assist for Alghamdi to bag the second in added time at the end of the first half with Al Ittihad eventually running out 3-1 winners.
Following AFC Champions League elimination and with the Saudi Pro League title beyond the Jeddah side, the only silverware on the table for Gallardo’s side is the 2023-24 Saudi King Cup as Al Ittihad face Al Hilal at the end of April.
Since the season started, the former Real Madrid player has missed 16 games with the Saudi side having missed approximately 41% of his club’s matches this season.