SAUDI ARABIA
Karim Benzema skips practice and ‘disappears’ from Jeddah ahead of Al Ittihad game
The former Real Madrid striker has reportedly left Jeddah just hours ahead of Al Ittihad’s game, with the reasons - and his whereabouts - unknown.
Karim Benzema is not going through a positive spell as a professional footballer and the French striker is once again in the spotlight in Saudi Arabia. It turns out that the player has actually ‘gone missing’, just a few hours before his team play in a Saudi Pro League match.
The former Real Madrid player did not train on either Thursday or Friday with the rest of his Al Ittihad teammates. As a result, he will not be included in the squad for the match against Al Taee.
According to the Saudi media outlet Al-Riyadiya, Benzema has in fact left the port city of Jeddah, with the reason behind his unscheduled trip in the middle of the season currently unknown. His coach, Marcelo Gallardo, did not want to explain the motive, a move which has not gone down well with neither the club’s fans nor the local media. “He may be in disagreement with the club (...) but that does not excuse him because he does not make any effort”.
‘Benzema seems to have lost the desire to play football’
Ballon d’Or winner ‘seems to have lost the desire to play football’
Benzema “wastes very easy chances and seems to have lost the desire to play football,” Saudi sports journalist Abdel Karim Al Jasser said on Al-Ekhbariya. Despite racking up 12 goals and 5 assists across a total of 20 games, the former Real Madrid forward has so far failed to live up to the huge expectations of the Saudis.
If Cristiano Ronaldo was the face of the derby between Al Ittihad and Al Nassr, Karim Benzema was the forgotten man. The forward saw his team lose to Al Nassr for the first time in five years, and Al Ittihad fans took it out on the club captain, who has been singled out for the team’s downfall this season.
Benzema under heavy fire from fans
To make matters worse, the striker has repeatedly been accused of not performing in big games. He was heavily criticised for Al Ittihad’s early elimination from the Club World Cup, missing a key penalty in the game against Ahly FC of Egypt.
In the Saudi Clásico, he was accused of coming up with very little in attack and gave away a very avoidable penalty saw Al Nassr equalise and signal the beginning of the Al Ittihad debacle. Benzema suffered such a social media onslaught after the game that he reacted by temporarily deleting one of his profiles with more than 76 million followers. His whereabouts are currently unknown.