In its distant fight at the top of the Saudi Pro League with Al-Hilal (leader after 8 days), Al-Ittihad, led by Laurent Blanc, acquired a precious victory (1-0) on Thursday against Al-Ahli , the team where Franck Kessié, Riyad Mahrez and Ivan Toney play. N’Golo Kanté, Fabinho, Houssem Aouar and Moussa Diaby were there with Al-Ittihad, but Karim Benzema was in the stands and his understudy at the forefront of the Al-Ittihad attack, Saleh Al Shehri, rightly scored the winning goal on Diaby’s 10th assist.
This is in fact the final blow for “KB9”, who is the victim of an injury to one of the hamstring muscles (at the back of the thigh), as his club announced before the encounter. The 36-year-old striker is likely the victim of a torn muscle as he is already out of next week’s league encounter against Al-Orubah and is only expected to return after the international window when Al -Fateh, in three weeks.
Benzema, a failed first season
The 2022 Ballon d’Or was in great form until then: he played in all of his team’s matches (9 in all competitions), rarely being replaced by Laurent Blanc, and thus boasts a record of eight goals and an assist in eight league matches. Benzema is back in the infirmary and it’s bad news, he who was injured three times last season and only played 21 Saudi Pro League matches (out of 34 days), scoring 9 goals and 7 assists.
The former Real Madrid captain’s first season was truly catastrophic. A year ago, his arrival at the reigning champion shook up Nuno Espirito Santo’s group (who ended up being replaced by Marcelo Gallardo). Al-Ittihad missed its start to the season, provoking the anger of the supporters, and finished in a pitiful 5th place in the standings, very far from the champion Al-Hilal and without any continental qualification (neither the Elite Champions League, nor the ” Champions League Two”).
