{"id":295970,"date":"2023-10-12T10:24:27","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T10:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=295970"},"modified":"2023-10-12T10:24:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T10:24:27","slug":"benzema-claims-hes-been-surprised-by-the-standard-in-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/benzema-claims-hes-been-surprised-by-the-standard-in-saudi-arabia\/","title":{"rendered":"Benzema claims he&apos;s been &apos;SURPRISED&apos; by the standard in Saudi Arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Karim Benzema reveals his thoughts about the standard of the Saudi Pro League&#8230; as Real Madrid legend explains why he moved to Middle East following transfer to Al-Ittihad<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Karim Benzema completed a shock move to Saudi Arabia during the summer<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Ballon d&#8217;Or winner has now opened up on his thoughts since the transfer\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s podcast &#8216;It&#8217;s All Kicking Off&#8217;\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Karim Benzema has revealed his thoughts on the standard of football in Saudi Arabia since making his move to the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>The former Real Madrid star called an end to his time in European football earlier this summer after he secured a move to Saudi giants Al-Ittihad.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Since making the move, he&#8217;s managed to score three goals and get two assists as his side sit fourth in the Saudi Pro League table.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And, amid his good run of form, the Ballon d&#8217;Or winner took a moment to share his thoughts on the league during a recent interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to AS, Benzema said: &#8216;When the football project started in Saudi Arabia, it seemed huge in all aspects. I wanted to be a part of it and help football move forward in this country.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/12\/10\/76467027-12622577-image-a-7_1697103266065.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Former Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema recently reflected on his move to Saudi Arabia\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/12\/10\/76467665-12622577-image-m-12_1697103676913.jpg\" height=\"577\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/12\/10\/76467671-12622577-image-m-14_1697103687831.jpg\" height=\"577\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Benzema offered his thoughts on the standard of the Saudi Pro League &#8211; which now boasts former Premier League talents such as Fabinho (L) and N&#8217;Golo Kante (R)<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;There is a lot of passion here and I am happy with the level of the game. I&#8217;m really surprised by the level in Saudi Arabia because in Europe we don&#8217;t see many football matches here. Now, they do.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;As a Muslim, when you are in Mecca you feel at peace. It&#8217;s an exceptional place. Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country. They welcomed me with open arms and I felt loved immediately.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I am very happy and proud with everything I have done and won with Real Madrid, but I think for me it was a good time to try something new in my life after everything I had already won in Madrid.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Benzema spent 14 years at Real Madrid before eventually calling quits on his time at the Santiago Bernabeu, in favour of a move the Middle East.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Frenchman became the second superstar to move to Saudi Arabia, following in the footsteps of his former Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo.<\/p>\n<p>After joining the club on a three-year contract worth \u00a3258million, Benzema revealed that his move to Saudi Arabia was inspired by his Muslim religion, not the bounty of money on offer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Because I am Muslim and it&#8217;s a Muslim country. I&#8217;ve always wanted to live there. I&#8217;ve already been to Saudi Arabia and I feel good about it,&#8217; said Benzema.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;To me it&#8217;s where I want to be\u2026 I hope for my new club, what I&#8217;ll be able to bring is my football and most importantly to be able to win titles&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/12\/10\/76467023-12622577-image-a-15_1697104016650.jpg\" height=\"462\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Ballon d&#8217;Or winner called an end to his time in European football earlier this summer<\/p>\n<p>The striker also made headlines recently when he lauded Saudi Arabia&#8217;s bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The bid announcement was made on Wednesday by\u00a0Saudi minister of sport Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Wow! Amazing news. The future is bright \u2013 congrats to all my friends and fans in Saudi Arabia on this big announcement,&#8217; said Benzema.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I\u00a0know how much you love the game and what this would mean to you! It would be an incredible FIFA World Cup.&#8217;<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12622577\/Karim-Benzema-reveals-thoughts-standard-Saudi-Pro-League-Real-Madrid-legend-explains-moved-Middle-East-following-transfer-Al-Ittihad.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Karim Benzema reveals his thoughts about the standard of the Saudi Pro League&#8230; as Real Madrid legend explains why he <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Benzema claims he&amp;apos;s been &amp;apos;SURPRISED&amp;apos; by the standard in Saudi Arabia - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/benzema-claims-hes-been-surprised-by-the-standard-in-saudi-arabia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Benzema claims he&amp;apos;s been &amp;apos;SURPRISED&amp;apos; 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