Laurent Blanc: Karim Benzema is happy at Al Ittihad and we are targeting Derby Week victory over Al Ahli

(MENAFN- Hkstrategies) Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – 30 October 2024: Laurent Blanc, the Al Ittihad manager, says star striker Karim Benzema is happy to be at the Jeddah club, as the French duo target Derby Week victory over Al Ahli on Thursday in the Roshn Saudi League.

Al Ittihad go into the Sea Derby in second place, with their local rivals 11th in the Roshn Saudi League table. Ahead of the derby, Blanc, a World Cup winner with France as a player in 1998, has spoken about managing Al Ittihad, 2022 Ballon d’Or winner Benzema, facing Ivan Toney – and the big game itself.

The Sea Derby, which kicks off at 9pm local time at King Abdullah Sports City, is part of the Roshn Saudi League’s innovative Derby Week, which is taking place in Matchweek 9 of the 2024/25 season. The new Derby Week addition to the Saudi Arabian top flight also features Ronaldo’s Al Nassr versus champions Al Hilal, with Neymar at No.10, at Al Awwal Park in the Capital Derby in a mouthwatering match up on Friday. The Eastern Derby between Al Ettifaq, managed by Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, and Al Qadsiah, who welcomed Real Madrid hero Nacho into their ranks in summer, is on Saturday.

Quotes from Blanc’s interview are below:

The Sea Derby
“It will be a hard game because it is a derby. But the game? I don’t know, I am not a magician. We hope we have the ball, because we want the ball in every game. Certainly, Al Ahli will not agree with that. They are a good team with good players, so we need to be ready for a big game.

“It will be a very interesting game because on the pitch will be many good players. It will be a tough game, physically and technically. And there will be many people in the stadium to see it. I am impatient because this game is very interesting to play.

“I have been involved in a lot of derbies – in France, in England, in Spain, in Italy. It is the same way everywhere. In Saudi Arabia it is the same. You prepare for the game, you want to prepare to be ready, physically and technically. We are preparing well, I am sure. But Al Ahli is also too. The only way is to win the game, but for now we don’t know the result. So it is the same everywhere guys, the most important thing is preparing to be ready physically and, in my opinion in the derby, mentally. If you are ready mentally you can get a result, if you are not ready mentally it is very difficult.”

Benzema
“I think he is happy, on the pitch and certainly off the pitch – this is very important for the player, and he’s scored a lot. But this isn’t a surprise. Karim Benzema has played football for 20 years more or less, and he scored a lot every year; 25, 27, 24 goals in a year. In Madrid, in Lyon, and in Al Ittihad it is the same.”

Facing Toney and Mahrez
“Everybody knows this player is a very good player [Toney]. He is a scorer too, he scored a lot of goals in England. But it’s not only Toney, they have Mahrez who we know a lot because he played in France and in England, he scored a lot. Technically he is a very, very good player. Al Ahli is a good team. Everybody knows that.”

Building a successful team
“We need to adapt the squad to our objective. It is complicated, if you want to go to the top there is only one way and that is to win games. So, the objective is big and we have to work a lot. The local players and the foreign players don’t have the same culture, so we have to work with the football but also in my opinion to be working with the human. I love to do that. Some times we have good results, some times we have bad results but we need to continue to work like this.”

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