Benzema visits Mbappé and the Merengue at the hotel

Photos which will obviously make Real Madrid supporters nostalgic. Having left a year and a half ago for Al-Ittihad, Karim Benzema took advantage of the presence of Madrid players in Saudi Arabia to pay them a quick visit. On the program, a reunion with his former teammates (Vinicius Jr, Thibaut Courtois…), Carlo Ancelotti but also a certain Kylian Mbappé, who regained his number 9 this summer and whom he obviously rubbed shoulders with in the French team.

Benzema visits Real Madrid!

And while their relationship was announced as “cold” in recent weeks, the two men did not fail to exchange knowing smiles in this photo. A visit not so surprising as the Nueve had released a little “Hala Madrid” in the mixed zone after the victory of his team against Al-Hilal in the quarter-final of the King of Champions Cup on Tuesday evening (2-2, 1 -3 tab) in anticipation of this Spanish Super Cup which took place on Saudi soil.

Recently, Ramon Planes, sporting director of the leader of the Saudi Pro League, revealed that Nueve still had the Merengue in the back of his mind: “Yes, he still follows Real Madrid. He really likes football. He is very competitive, as you would expect from a Ballon d’Or winner. And yes, we are talking about football, La Liga. He follows her, and I think he has the profile to continue to devote himself to football once he retires. Because he is a person who loves football. There is a before and an after this summer. He arrived in a still embryonic project, with some aspects to improve. And he was part of that process. Maybe he wasn’t as comfortable as he wanted because, to play football, the environment has to be supportive. These are players with a very high level of personal demands, and Karim’s commitment to the project has been immense. Leaving Real Madrid with one year left on his contract, freshly elected Ballon d’Or… he wasn’t there to pass the time. Karim is a very competitive person, so he wants tools to be able to compete. We did an enormous amount of work this summer, a radical change from every point of view: players, technical staff… Laurent Blanc arrived with a coaching profile that understood what we were looking for. He knew him from the France team and was able to reveal the level he has. Today, he scores goals, he is happy, he leads the team. Part of this is because we changed the environment, which was not ideal when he arrived. When I arrived, I had the chance to see what was happening from January to June, and to understand what the club needed to improve.“

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