It’s off to a much better start for Karim Benzema after his nightmare first season in Saudi Arabia. Now coached by Laurent Blanc at Al-Ittihad and joined by Houssem Aouar and Moussa Diaby (in addition to N’Golo Kanté and Fabinho), the 2022 Ballon d’Or winner is in great form at the start of the season. The 36-year-old scored his first goal of the season before the international window, scoring a hat-trick in a huge 7-1 win over Al-Wehda on Sunday, in Matchday 3 of the Saudi Pro League.
“KB9” struck right from the start with an exceptional curling shot from outside the area (2nd). A magnificent goal that recalls his golazo registered with the French team in the Nations League final against Spain in 2021 (he was however inside the penalty area against La Roja). As on Benzema’s first goal, the Dutchman Steven Bergwijn found the former Real Madrid captain for a right-footed cross shot and a double at the start of the second half (47th). At the very end of the match, Benzema was served on yet another offensive for his third goal and his team’s seventh (89th).
Hat-trick for Benzema, quadruple for Diaby
It was Houssem Aouar who doubled the lead for Al-Ittihad (71st), while the player trained at OL (also) had already scored in the first two matches of the season! Moussa Diaby is a quadruple decisive passer, for Aouar then Fabinho (45th + 3) in the first half and the Saudis Fawaz Al Saqour (55th) and Saleh Al Shehri (87th) in the second.
The team of captain Benzema and “President” Laurent Blanc will have a lot to do next Saturday with a top-of-the-table clash against Al-Hilal, the all-powerful defending champion, who have also won three in a row. Joao Cancelo and Marcos Leonardo have strengthened the team composed of Yassine Bounou, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Malcom and Aleksandar Mitrovic. Neymar is still unavailable for Al-Hilal.
