Benzema, what a debut: three goals in one hour and a goleada for Simone Inzaghi’s Al-Hilal

That he had not lost his goal-scoring habit was clear for all to see but it was a dream debut for Karim Benzema with Al-Hilal. Deployed as a starter on Thursday night against Al-Okhdood for his first game in his new jersey, the 2022 Golden Ball winner put on a show by signing a hat-trick to the delight of his new coach Simone Inzaghi, the fans but also his teammates among whom are several old acquaintances of the Italian top league, and not only.

Luca Franzosi

Benzema unlocked the result with an elegant heel strike in the 31st minute (0-1), then went wild in the second half. In the 60th minute he pushed the ball into the net on Malcom’s assist (0-2), then struck again four minutes later on Salem Al-Dawsari’s service (0-3).The Frenchman could even have completed the poker, if in the 70th minute Malcom had not deflected the conclusion accompanying the ball into the net for the fourth goal of the evening (0-4). The result was then made even wider by Al-Dawsari, who scored a brace on 74′ and 93′ both goals on assists from Malcolm.

A debut that could hardly have been more convincing for the French bomber after the controversy that followed his transfer to Al-Hilal from Al-Ittihad, a’market transaction that had sent Cristiano Ronaldo into a rage, who refused to play Al-Nassr’s last league game.

Thanks to this result, Inzaghi&#8217s team broke the streak of three consecutive draws and confirmed its first place at 50 points, +3 on Al-Ahli’Al-Ahli and +4 on Ronaldo and his teammates, who have one game less.

With Benzema’s arrival, Al-Hilal is now a real battleship: among the many prominent names are former Napoli player Kalidou Koulibaly, former Liverpool player Darwin Nunez, Portuguese national Ruben Neves, former Milan player Theo Hernandez, former Lazio player Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Moroccan goalkeeper Bounou and former Monza player Pablo Marí.