From hero to villain: Benzema miss dooms Al Hilal in the last 16 | OneFootball

The French forward sent his shot over the crossbar in the decisive shootout against Al-Sadd. Despite providing an assist during the 120 minutes, his miss from the spot sealed the fate of the Saudi team, which bowed out of the competition after a thrilling 3-3 draw in regulation time.

The team coached by Simone Inzaghi took the lead in the match at the 29-minute mark of the first half thanks to a goal by Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, the former Lazio player from Italy. Later, Claudinho equalized for Roberto Mancini’s side; Salem Al-Dawsari made it 2-1; Rafa Mujica leveled the match once again; Marcos Leonardo put Al Hilal ahead for the third time; and Brazilian Roberto Firmino equalized again to seal the final result.

Benzema, meanwhile, started and played the full match. The striker, who was coming off a hat-trick in the Saudi Pro League, did not score, but he did assist Al-Dawsari on Al Hilal’s second goal. With the score still tied after extra time ended, everything had to be decided in a penalty shootout.

The experienced forward, who took the third penalty (the sixth overall in the shootout), sent his shot over the crossbar and missed the chance to swing the series in his team’s favor. Saimon Bouabré also missed the next one, and Qatari star Akram Afif sealed the elimination in favor of Al-Sadd. They will now face Japan’s Vissel Kobe, which knocked out FC Seoul 3-1 on aggregate over the two matches.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.