Big misunderstanding with al-Ittihad followers. The team led by Laurent Blanc leads the dance in Saudi Pro League this season ahead of Al-Hilal but only has four points ahead after a defeat in Al-Fateh (2-0), Thursday evening on behalf of the 28th day (out of 34). Karim Benzema could not save his family. It even turned to vinegar for the former featured captain of Real Madrid…
After the opening of the former Grenoblois Amine Sbaï (10th), Al-Fateh missed the opportunity to lead 2-0 on a penalty not transformed by Mourad Batna (35th). N'Golo Kanté and his teammates also obtained a repair kick but it was not “KB9” which appeared before the penalty spot but Fabinho. The attempt of the Brazilian veteran was rejected by the opposing goalkeeper, Nawaf Al Aqidi (44th).
Upon returning from the locker room, Karim Benzema made the nets tremble but the referees canceled the goal because of an offside of the heel of the Golden Ball 2022. The Lyonnais scored only a goal in the last eight matches and remains blocked at 17 championship achievements, behind a Cristiano Ronaldo at 23 goals and his former component of attack Abderrazak Hamdallah now in Al Shabab (19 goals).
Diaby and Aouar no better than Benzema
Once is not custom, Moussa Diaby created few opportunities and Houssem Aouar failed to make the difference either in support of Benzema. Al-Ittihad even sank. Mathias Vargas doubled the bet for Al-Fateh 20 minutes from the end (69th) and the men of “president” Laurent Blanc were unable to revive the suspense, unable to shake the nets despite some opportunities.
The title race resumes next Monday with a shock for Al-Ittihad against Al-Ettifaq (7th), the team led by Georginio Wijnaldum and Karl Toko Ekambi, and an equally difficult meeting for Al-Hilal against Al-Shabab (6th). The reigning champions led by Kalidou Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic did not say their last word.
