To escape the stifling heat of Saudi Arabia, where temperatures are close to 45°C, Al-Ittihad made the strange choice to prepare for their next season in Andalusia, where the mercury also exceeds 40. Karim Benzema’s team, with Houssem Aouar and Moussa Diaby as recruits and Laurent Blanc on the bench, lost to Elche (2-0) and then to Sevilla (1-0). During this Antonio Puerta Trophy, played at the Sanchez-Pizjuan, “KB9” missed his penalty before the only goal of the game scored by Lucas Ocampos.
Al-Ittihad continue their European tour in Faro, with a match against Farense on Wednesday, then a clash against Real Betis this time, back in Seville, on Saturday, and finally a final match against Inter Milan, in Monza, on Wednesday next week. N’Golo Kanté, back from his post-Euro 2024 vacation, will soon be back and the entire French contingent of the Ittihad Club will have the opportunity to challenge the Nerazzurri of Benjamin Pavard and Marcus Thuram.
Benzema must be forgiven
Despite Benzema’s arrival a year ago, reigning Saudi champions Al-Ittihad have had a cataclysmic season. The team was led by Nuno Espirito Santo and then Marcelo Gallardo to finish 5th in the Saudi Pro League (42 points behind Al-Hilal), eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League (by Al-Hilal) and the semi-finals of the King Cup (by Al-Hilal) and beaten in the Super Cup (by Al-Hilal). The team did not even qualify for the second Asian Club Cup. Benzema, 36, scored only 9 league goals last season.
The Saudi Arabian championship will offer a great season thanks to the shower of stars now playing in certain clubs. In addition to Al-Ittihad and Cristiano Ronaldo (accompanied by Aymeric Laporte and Sadio Mané at Al-Nassr), we will find Edouard Mendy, Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmno at Al-Ahli, Neymar with the reigning champions Yassine Bounou, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic at Al-Hilal or Nacho, Georginio Wijnaldum, Yannick Carrasco, Georges-Kévin Nkoudou, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or Karl Toko Ekambi in the other teams.
