Not the nicest sack in the world (if there is any sack out there which is nice), but certainly one of the most wealthiest ever. In a long-standing freud between Marcelo Gallardo and Karim Benzema, Al-Ittihad decided to take Benzema‘s side and ended the contact with the Argentine expert. And he is now starting his 30 million euros settlement case. After all, the club sacked him even thou his contract was valid until June 30, 2025 and given the reason why he was dismissed, the Argentinian certainly won‘t fogive and forget. Gallardo, who arrived in November 2023, has only spent 33 games in charge. Al-Ittihad was the champion of the Saudi League last season, but this time, they finished fifth, with 12 defeats and a staggering 42 points less that the new champion Al-Hilal.From Benzema to Rafael Leao – Gallardo to take over Milan?And the club‘s president left no room for any misinterpretations about the reasons for Gallardo‘s dismissal.”Gallardo made serious mistakes by calling for Benzema to leave, which is unacceptable. Benzema is an essential part of the project of Saudi Arabia and the club. We have two to three options for a new manager” said the club‘s president Louay Nazer. So, the Argentine expert decided to practice his discipline on the French striker and make him an example, but failed and is now out of job. The whole freud started in February when Benzema was late 17 days for the start of the training camp and for 10 days, the club executives couldn’t even reach him. He blamed a cyclone on Mauritius, where he was on holiday, due to which he couldn’t come back to Saudi Arabia, but that didn’t convince anybody at Al-Ittihad. Gallardo doesn‘t give privileges to any of his players, so he ordered Benzema to train alone. After the Frenchman stormed out of the training, he didn’t feature in the game against Al Taee (Al-Ittihad won 3-0) but trained in the gym with the injured players.New sparks between Benzema and GallardoBefore Al Ittihad, Marcelo Gallardo worked only in the territory of South America, with the Uruguayan Nacional he was the national champion, after which he got a job in Rivera and raised it to the level of the winner of the Copa Libertadores (twice), in order to finally win the title in his native country in 2021 Argentina, after a series of cups. He was highly regarded in football circles and was in the mix for Milan and Marseille‘s job, but turned them all down for the Saudi Arabia gig. He might have thought twice about it.##NAJAVA_MECA_8173426##
