The match witnessed the union Friendly Against Real Betis, French striker Karim Benzema was angry with his teammates after the Spanish team scored its second goal against the Union from a set piece.
The match between Al-Ittihad and Real Betis ended with the Saudi club losing 4-1, on Saturday evening, August 3, at the Benito Villamarín Stadium in the Spanish city of Seville.
The home side opened the scoring through Spanish right winger Aitor Ruibal in the 24th minute, and five minutes before the end of the first half, new signing French winger Moussa Diaby equalised for the home side.The Dean“.
Karim Benzema’s anger during the match between Al-Ittihad and Real Betis
Shortly before the end of the first half, the Spanish team regained the lead through French playmaker Nabil Fekir, taking advantage of the wrong position of the human wall while executing the set piece; which angered the captain of the Union, Karim Benzema.
In the second half, Real Betis added two more goals, scored by Spanish midfielder Marc Roca and his compatriot, left winger Juan Miguel “Juanmi”, in the 58th and 72nd minutes.
With the heavy loss of four goals against Real Betis, the Saudi club has lost all its friendly matches in preparation for the start of the new sports season 2024-25.
Before the defeat against Betis, Al-Ittihad had previously lost in a friendly match against Elche of Spain by two clean goals, and against its compatriot Sevilla by one goal without a response, then lost to Farense of Portugal 3-1 in a match that was not completed due to crowd trouble.
The Saudi club will play another friendly match on August 7 in Italy against Inter Milan, before returning to the Saudi city of Jeddah for the start of the new season.
During last season’s competitions, the Ittihad team appeared in a very bad way, and lost all the local and continental championships, and the team’s ranking dropped to fifth place in the championship. Saudi Roshen Leaguewhich the club won the title in the 2022-23 season.
It is worth noting that the Jeddah club signed this summer with French winger Moussa Diaby and Algerian midfielder Houssem Aouar, and is on its way to officially announcing the acquisition of the services of Serbian goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic from Real Mallorca of Spain.
In addition to foreign deals, Al-Ittihad included 6 other Saudi players, most notably Saleh Al-Shehri and Moaz Faqihi. The club also hired the services of French coach Laurent Blanc, succeeding Argentine Marcelo Gallardo.
