Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema met again in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday in the round of 16 of the local King’s Cup. “KB9” scored the first goal of this meeting, but it is clear that the 37-year-old Lyonnais is holding up less physically than the Portuguese idol, who is three years older than him (40 years old). The 2022 Ballon d’Or will likely closely follow the 2026 World Cup with many teammates in action.
Benzema is at a standstill again with Al-Ittihad. After missing four matches in September due to a muscle injury (a harmless physical problem for a footballer but more frequent as one reaches his thirties), he did not make the trip with his teammates to challenge Al Khaleej on Saturday afternoon.
For once, Al-Ittihad has not communicated about the absence of its star captain, while the Jeddah club is used to providing news of injured players before each Saudi Pro League match. Some observers of the championship imagine physical fatigue four days after the clash against Al-Nassr.
Benzema absent, Al-Ittihad led 4-0!
However, Al-Ittihad might have needed its star who took it to the championship title (21 goals and 9 assists in 2024-2025). Sérgio Conceiçao has still not won in three Saudi Pro League matches since his induction in place of Laurent Blanc. The reigning champion continues his bad patch by taking a point on the field of Al-Khaleej (4-4).
Al-Ittihad will, however, be delighted to have made a comeback this Saturday because N’Golo KantĂ© and his teammates were down 4-0 and played 10 against 11! Joshua King, who played for Toulouse last season, and Greek striker Konstantinos Fortounis scored twice each, while Fabinho saw red (32nd). Moussa Diaby started a crazy end to the game by scoring his second goal in the 86th minute. Mario Mitaj (96th) and Faisal Al Ghamdi (98th)!
