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Karim Benzema opened his Saudi Arabian account in style on Thursday, scoring a decisive and delightful goal for Al-Ittihad in a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Esperance de Tunis in their opening game in the King Salman Club Cup. The victory sends the Jeddah giants top of Group A in this 16-team tournament, formerly known as the Arab Club Champions Cup.
The French striker, who arrived in Jeddah in the summer, was in the thick of action for most of the match in Abha and also set up the first half strike for Abderrazak Hamdallah.
Benzema found himself surrounded by plenty of defenders every time he received the ball and must have looked on in admiration as the North Africans took the lead in the 26th minute with a spectacular strike
A cross from the right found its way to Oussama Bouguerra just inside the area and he spun to produce an unstoppable arrow-like half-volley that flew into the top left corner of Marcelo Grohe’s goal. It seemed as if Esperance, who have the best record in this tournament with three wins and two runners-up spots, were keeping up their fine tradition.
Yet it didn’t take the Saudi Arabian champions long to strike back and Benzema was heavily involved. The current FIFA Ballon D’or holder collected the ball on the left side of the area and then turned his defenders to curl a shot home into the opposite top corner. Nobody will ever know if it would have ended with a goal as Hamdallah, the Moroccan was the leading goalscorer in the league last season, showed his instincts to intervene at the near post to head home.
Karim Benzema scored the winning goal. (Al-Ittihad)
Those fans wearing the famous yellow and black were on their feet ten minutes into the second half as Benzema showed just why he is one of the most feared and decorated strikers on the planet. On the left side, just outside the corner of the Tunisian area, he curled the ball beautifully into the far side of Esperance's net. It was a goal worthy of winning any game and it was enough to do so this time with the second half introduction of N’Golo Kante. recently signed from Chelsea, an added bonus.
It all means that Nuno Santo’s men, who last won this tournament in 2005, are top of the group above Al-Shorta. The Iraq powerhouse defeated Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien 1-0 thanks to a second half penalty from Alaa Abdul-Zahra. The top two from each of the four groups progress to the quarter-finals.
In Group B, it was a frustrating evening for Al-Hilal who dominated possession and chances but just could not find the all important goal in the face of some determined defending from Al-Ahli Tripoli. The closest the four time Asian champions came was with 20 minutes to go when substitute Abdullah Radif hit the woodwork from a Ruben Neves pass.
The Portuguese star , signed from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer with a number of big European clubs circling, had a busy evening and a one-footed challenge from Mourad Hedhli caught the Portuguese star on the ankle and looked like it had caused a serious injury. Fortunately,. Neves got to his feet and fortunately for the Tunisian, his yellow card was not changed to red even after the referee was called to the pitchside monitor to check.
The former Wolves man almost made the Libyans pay immediately but his free-kick went over. Soon after, Neves was again the target of another yellow card worthy tackle and following the resultant free-kick, Yasser Al-Shahrani curled a shot just wide.
That blank meant there were no goals at all in Group B as Qatar’s Al-Sadd and Wydad AC of Morocco ended 0-0 meaning that there is all still to play for especially for Riyadh rivals Al-Nassr and Al-Shabab who meet on Friday.