Out of the group for Thursday’s Al-Ittihad Champions League match, Karim Benzema was the subject of an update from his coach Marcelo Gallardo.
Al-Ittihad will meet Nawbahor Nangan in the Asian Champions League Round of 16 first leg this Thursday. The Jeddah club will once again be without Karim Benzema, who was not selected by Marcelo Gallardo for this trip to Uzbekistan.
Officially, the former Merengue is suffering from physical problems. Argentina’s tactician isn’t the only type to deliver in wooden language; He also clarified the reasons for the absence of his presumed best offensive asset this Wednesday. Not to mention the excuse of a limit of five non-Asian elements in C1: in this case Brazilian Fabinho and Romarinho, Moroccan Abderzak Hamdallah, Egyptian Ahmed Hegazi and N’Golo Kante for this match.
A “purely technical” decision
Marcelo Gallardo thus puts forward an explanation ” Completely technical »: « After joining the team a few days ago, he is currently training alone. When he is physically and technically ready, he will undoubtedly join the group, most likely next week. »
The Saudi media have already had the chance to describe the frosty relationship between the two men, with the Al-Ittihad coach unhappy with the former Lyonnais’ investment on a daily basis. Although he had a good start to his first season in the Saudi Pro League, KB9 saw a marked drop in performance as the winter break approached, receiving numerous criticisms last December.
