Al Ittihad Boss Lambasted for Karim Benzema ‘Mistake’ During Embarrassing Loss to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr

Al Nassr continued their title challenge with a dominating win against Al Ittihad. After the loss against Cristiano Ronaldo and the team, the Al Ittihad manager experiences a lot of flak from the Saudi soccer analysts. They have slammed Marcelo Gallardo for the mistake of Karim Benzema, after the embarrassing loss against the Knights of Najd at their home stadium.

The owners of the club hope they can turn it around after sacking Nuno Espirito Santo. However, the recent results have not put a smile on their faces following the humbling defeat. It left the soccer analysts to scrutinize the coach’s methods. 

Al Ittihad boss slammed for his mistake in the embarrassing loss against Al Nassr

There were loud boos from the Al Ittihad fans as the referee blew the final whistle. It showed their frustration as their team lost the game against Al Nassr 5-2. The loss also prompted the analysts to slam players for their performances. Moreover, they also lambasted Gallardo for his flawed tactics in keeping Karim Benzema on the pitch.

An analyst, Hatem Khaimi, stated, “The expulsion and penalty kick made the match one-sided, and Gallardo helped do that by removing Cornado and keeping Benzema on.” One also blamed the manager for making poor changes. Wael Al-Najjar articulated, “Gallardo’s changes helped Al-Nassr win a quintet and could have increased.”

Al Ittihad showed sufficient drive and determination to win the game until the 67th minute. But the Fabinho red card saw them losing control of the game. After the team went down to 10 men, the forwards lacked enough service. Every time they would attack, the forward would see them surrounded by two or three Al Nassr players. The defense also was quite cut open by brilliant performances from Ronaldo, Mane, and Talisca.

This loss also means that Al Ittihad remains winless in their last three league games. One of the primary reasons behind the unsatisfactory run of results is the lack of goals from their marquee striker, Karim Benzema.

Karim Benzema is yet to recover from the Club World Cup penalty miss!

Despite their poor league form, fans backed Al Ittihad to do well in the FIFA Club World Cup. However, they were surprisingly knocked out after a 3-1 loss against Egyptian giants Al-Ahly. The loss also included Karim Benzema missing a penalty in that game. Since then, it looks like he has been unable to find his goal-scoring touch for the Saudi giants.

READ MORE: Karim Benzema Deactivates Instagram After Al Ittihad’s Humbling by Cristiano Ronaldo & Al Nassr

In his last five games, the French striker has scored only one goal and provided one assist. These performances also affected the league table position of the team, as the team now remains sixth. 

The captain will hope to find his goal-scoring form against relegation-threatened Al Tai. In terms of winning trophies this season, their best chance to win is to progress to the semi-finals of the King’s Cup. Can they do it?

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