Cristiano Ronaldo may be the happiest with Al-Ahly’s 3-1 victory over Al-Ittihad and the elimination of Al-Ameed from the 2023 Club World Cup, and the secret is in Karim Benzema.
Ronaldo holds a record in the Club World Cup as the competition's all-time top scorer, with 7 goals in 4 appearances with Manchester United and Real Madrid.
Karim Benzema was the biggest threat to the “Don” number in the short term, after he scored a goal against Auckland City, raising his tally to 5 goals, then he scored another goal against Al-Ahly, making him equal with Gareth Bale with 6 goals, in second place among the historical World Cup scorers.
With the exclusion of Al-Ittihad, Benzema is out of the race, and perhaps this is the last edition in which the Frenchman will participate in the competition, given his age and the state of Al-Ittihad, which does not allow him to achieve either the Saudi League or the AFC Champions League, and with it, a presence in the 2024 edition.
Ronaldo will remain the historic top scorer in the Club World Cup for at least another year, unless Hussein El-Shahat, the Egyptian Al-Ahly star, succeeds in scoring three goals in the next two matches, and with them, getting on par with the Portuguese football legend.
Ronaldo still has a chance, perhaps greater than Benzema, to be present in the Club World Cup next year, in light of Al-Nassr’s distinguished state in Asia and locally, which may qualify him to win one of the two tournaments and with it return to the tournament in which it was the first Saudi team to ever participate.
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