SAUDI ARABIA
Karim Benzema reappears in Madrid for “personal reasons”
The Al Ittihad forward “went missing” ahead of a Saudi League game; he has now reappeared in the Spanish capital.
The mystery surrounding Karim Benzema has been solved. After the defeat suffered by his current side, Al Ittihad, against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, the French striker was on the receiving end of a lot of criticism which caused him to shut down his social media.
As well as that, Benzema did not train with his side at the end of 2023 and in the end, his team’s match was postponed due to problems with the plane landing - as soon as it became known that nobody in Saudi Arabia knew where the ex-Real Madrid man was.
Benzema went to Madrid for ‘special circumstances’
After a few days of mystery, a director at the club, who did not want to be named, spoke to local media in which he said that “Benzema went to Madrid for special circumstances, he asked for three days off and the club agreed”. The club employee also tried to calm the turbulent waters, saying that “Karim is a professional and he is committed to the team”.
After this scare and before the world knew where Benzema was, the Saudi media were very tough on the Frenchman, saying that the player may have been unhappy in the team and they even proposed the idea that he wanted to leave Saudi football: “That does not excuse him because he does not put in any effort. He wastes very easy chances and seems to have lost the desire to play football.” Right now, nobody is quite sure what those ‘special circumstances’ are that led him to request time to fly to Madrid.
When could Benzema play for Al Ittihad?
The Saudi Arabian league is now on hiatus for the next month, as the Asian Cup kicks off on January 12. The league does not return until February 7, but Benzema’s side have a game on the 4th of that month against Al-Faysaly in the King’s Cup. Benzema should be back with his teammates before that date and play again in February.