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Al-Ittihad star, Karim Benzema, has reacted to his team’s victory over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr in the King’s Cup on Wednesday.
Benzema scored one of the goals as his side, despite being reduced to ten men for much of the game, ran out 2-1 winners in the Round of 16 encounter.
The Frenchman opened the scoring in the 15th minute to put Al-Ittihad in front, but Angelo Gabriel restored parity for Al Nassr at the half-hour mark.
However, Hossam Aouar made it 2-1 in first-half stoppage time, and Al Nassr could not find the equaliser despite having Joao Felix, Sadio Mane, and Cristiano Ronaldo upfront.
Al Nassr came out guns blazing in the second half, but Al-Ittihad’s defence proved a hard nut to crack.
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Benzema posted a picture of himself celebrating his goal after the match, captioning it: “Big win tonight… Important for the team and our fans. When we talk, we do.”
Speaking after the match, Benzema said, “It was not easy to win here because Al Nassr did great today, but from the first minute, we showed we wanted to win this game. We did exactly what the coach said before, and we are happy because we showed it’s still here.”
The goal saw Benzema take his tally for Al-Ittihad to four goals in seven appearances this season.
Before this last four clash and another meeting with former Real Madrid team-mate Ronaldo, Benzema said “the best will win”, while describing the 40-year-old as a “legend”. Al-Nassr went on to edge this encounter on Tuesday, leading Ronaldo’s team to say the French striker had become famous “under his shadow” in a disparaging put-down.
While Benzema did play his best football when Ronaldo left Madrid for Juventus in 2018, there is still a lot of respect between the two ex-Los Blancos players. Al-Ittihad have tended to get the better of Al-Nassr since both men headed to the Middle East in 2023, but this time, the Portuguese’s team have claimed bragging rights.
