Benzema Interview: “This season, Al Ittihad fans will be proud of us”

Much has changed from last season at Al Ittihad, but one constant at the club has been captain Karim Benzema.

The 2022 Ballon d’Or winner, a marquee signing in the Kingdom’s historic 2023 summer transfer window, has returned for the 2024-25 Roshn Saudi League with a renewed sense of purpose.

It has been helped, unquestionably, by the arrivals of fellow Frenchmen, former teammates, and even friends, as Al Ittihad look to bounce back – and then some - from last term’s dispiriting title defence.

The Jeddah giants, peerless the previous campaign, finished fifth in 2023-24, five points from securing Asian football for this campaign and a further 37 points behind eventual champions Al Hilal.

But a bold recruitment drive in the off-season has brought in the likes of manager Laurent Blanc, Algerian playmaker Houssem Aouar, France international winger Moussa Diaby, Serbia national-team goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic, and a host of top local talents including Saleh Al Shehri and Muath Faqeehi.

Little wonder, then, as Benzema sat down with the Saudi Pro League to talk exclusively about the season ahead, that he did so with a contented smile – and pronounced hope.

“This season we're all pulling in the same direction,” the former Real Madrid captain says. “We have just one objective: to do well and win trophies. In the end, there won’t be any complicated discussions. We all work together.

“The group is living well, and as I say, the substitutes, the regulars and the youngsters, we all have just one objective: to win. We've changed a lot this season, with players leaving, others arriving, and a new coach...”

Barely pausing for breath, Benzema emphasises the optimism.

“In fact, we're in the best possible shape,” he adds. “Personally, I feel great. After that, the players who have arrived are ones I know, ones I played with in the national team, like Diaby. I know Houssem from Lyon; the goalkeeper is the same, “Rajko” - we played against each other in La Liga.

“These are players who have played in Europe, who know the pressure, who know the ambition. It's good for the Saudi Pro League. It’s good for the club. It shows that we want to win.”

Of course, for a club of such stature and support, Al Ittihad did not do enough of that last time out. Having lifted a first RSL title in nine years at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, they set about their defence by signing in, among others, Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Fabinho and Felipe Luiz.

However, Al Ittihad struggled to mount a prolonged bid to retain the trophy, along the way dispensing with manager Nuno Espirito-Santo. His replacement, Marcelo Gallardo, was let go almost as soon as the 2023-24 season finished.

“I don’t like talking about last season, but it’s true that there were a lot of problems,” Benzema says. “We weren’t focused enough on football. We have to use that - the few failures - to bounce back, and that's what we did in the pre-season, with a lot of changes.

“And the most important thing is to look straight ahead, without forgetting the past, and above all to learn from our mistakes.

“The team needed a change, a strengthening. After that, to be able to compete, you really need ambition, to be ambitious, to work hard, to be a strong, united group. Once you've got that, on the pitch it's 11 against 11.

“This season is really a new page for the club. I did everything I could to strengthen the team, to make it better and stronger, and I'm confident. Now we have to fight together to try and win trophies.”

In succeeding Gallardo in the dugout, Blanc is the man tasked with guiding that overarching objective. He has done more than most in football, a FIFA World Cup winner as a player in 1998, and then a four-time Ligue 1 champion as manager.

Blanc has experience, also, of football in the region; he managed Qatar’s Al Rayyan from 2020 to 2022. Benzema knows his compatriot well, and feels that relationship with the former Napoli, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Manchester United centre-back will prove mutually beneficial.

“In Europe, Laurent Blanc is a well-known figure, and in Qatar too,” Benzema says. “Here too, people are getting to know his philosophy of play. It’s a game that starts from the back and builds the action up to the opponent’s goal.

“It's a philosophy that I've liked for a long time now. He's someone who knows football, someone who’s very close to his players. He's someone you can talk to and exchange ideas with.

“For him, who plays and who doesn't are equally important. That's good for us, and good for me, too.”

As the team’s principal protagonist, Benzema’s competitive comfort is central to Al Ittihad’s ambitions for 2024-25. In his debut season in the Kingdom, Real Madrid’s second-highest goalscorer of all time netted nine goals in 21 RSL appearances.

Benzema, one of the game’s most decorated stars, recognises that, much like the club on a whole, the pressure is on to deliver this campaign.

Although, it’s nothing he hasn’t had to deal with before.

“I've had this pressure since I was eight years old, ever since I started playing for a professional club,” Benzema says. “Then it turned into ambition.

“For this coming season, I'm not going to call it pressure, but more ambition. I want to turn that pressure into ambition, which is what enables me to be good, to help my team win, with the help of the other players of course, because I need everyone, because this is a real team sport.

“At the end of the day, pressure is ambition. I'm happy to have this little pressure because it will enable me to be even more focused and perform better.”

No doubt, Benzema’s clear-eyed conviction will be music to the ears of Al Ittihad’s passionate fan base. They are among the most vociferous in the RSL and will, understandably, demand more from their revamped side when Al Ittihad get under way on Saturday night at newly promoted Al Kholood.

Benzema, refreshed and laser-focused for the new season and the promise it brings, is determined to deliver.

“The relationship with the fans is very good,” he says. “After that, you have to realise that a fan will always ask you for more. At any club, if you support a team, you want your team to win and play well.

“So, there's bound to be frustration from time to time. It's up to us players to perform well. That's why I say that the fans are the 12th man. Here, they do it well.

“And, this season, they'll be proud of us.”

To hear more from Benzema, on being a role model for Al Ittihad's youngsters, life in Jeddah, and his commitment to the Kingdom beyond his playing career and towards the FIFA World Cup 2034, check out the video below.