Things at Al Ittihad continue to be heated between manager Marcelo Gallardo and French striker Karim Benzema. The club is preparing to return to Saudi Pro League action with their match against Al Ta’ee, but tensions continue for the seventh-place club.
According to Marca, Karim Benzema stormed off the training pitch on Tuesday when the Argentine manager, knowing that the former Real Madrid striker did not have a proper mid-season regimen, requested that Benzema work away from the team to get in shape.
This did not go over well with Benzema who became visibly angry and walked off the training area according to Marca. As a result, Gallardo did not add him to the game day squad for their match against Al Ta’ee.
Gallardo on hot seat?
It has been reported that Marcelo Gallardo’s time in Saudi Arabia could be short lived, given his shaky relationship with Karim Benzema, who reportedly wants out of Al Ittihad, but is willing to stay in the Saudi Pro League.
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Despite some rumblings of a return to Europe, Benzema has committed his future to the Saudi Pro League but not his current team, where things have taken a turn for the worse between the star player and the manager.
Gallardo is known for laying down ground rules, it has been the pillars of his success as a manger, first in Nacional, where after a tough defeat, Gallardo had a stern talk with the team in the dressing room and Nacional went on to win the Uruguayan title.
Marcelo Gallardo
At River Plate, Gallardo used his experiences at Nacional as a way to make sure River Plate would be run as “a top European club”. There were no star players but rather a huge team mentality, which would result in 14 major championships.
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Currently on a three-game losing streak with Al Ittihad, another defeat may mean the end for Gallardo at the club.
