agencies
SAUDI ARABIA, Dec 17: Karim Benzema had a penalty saved in Al-Ittihad's loss at the Club World Cup and the Saudi Arabian champion exited its home tournament before Manchester City and Fluminense even arrived. Benzema's spot kick to level against Al Ahly in the 45th minute on Friday was hit too straight at goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy, and the champion of Africa from Egypt went on to beat Al-Ittihad 3-1 in their second-round game. Al Ahly will next play Fluminense, the champion of South America from Brazil, in the semifinals on Monday and Champions League winner Man City will play Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan on Tuesday. Urawa beat León of Mexico, the CONCACAF Champions League titleholder, 1-0 in the earlier game on Friday in Jeddah, the Red Sea port city that has been home to Benzema since joining Al-Ittihad in June after 14 years at Real Madrid.
A crowd of 56,111 at the King Abdullah Sports City stadium included a big contingent of fans backing Al Ahly from Cairo, who saw their team take a lead in the 21st when Ali Maaloul scored from a penalty awarded for handball. After Benzema's miss from the spot, Al Ahly added second-half goals from Hussein Elsahat and Emam Ashour. Benzema cut the lead with a goal in stoppage time. Urawa's win was sealed with a 78th-minute goal by Dutch forward Alex Schalk, who squeezed a low, angled shot past advancing León goalkeeper Rodolfo Cota. |
