The exile will therefore have lasted, in total, 44 days.
The time for Karim Benzema to leave Instagram, to experience many turmoil in his relationship with his club Al-Ittihad, and to return to the group's social network "Meta" to announce an interview to his 76 million followers , to be published soon, in the magazine “GQ Middle East”.
A publication “liked” almost 600,000 times in one hour.
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On December 27, 2023, Karim Benzema, in the midst of sporting turmoil on the side of Saudi Arabia where he was strongly criticized at each outing by the media and supporters, made the sudden choice to leave Instagram, his platform of choice for sharing his daily life .
On February 9, he reactivated a very refined version of his account, which now only contains nine publications and eight subscriptions compared to more than 2,076 publications and 137 accounts followed previously.
If we no longer see any image of Karim Benzema on the field on this “new look” Instagram account, it is promoting an interview to appear in the columns of “GQ Middle East”, and certain extracts of which have been revealed.
“I'm not just a football player in Saudi Arabia”
“For a lot of people, having the number 9 on your back means scoring 50 goals a season, but for me it means I'm one of 11 players and I have to do everything I can to help the team to score and win, not only through goals, but also through decisive passes, movements and gestures", he explains, between two photos from a shooting carried out in the impressive structure of the BEEAH Headquarters in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Benzema obviously spoke of his new life in a country, Saudi Arabia, where he says he feels at peace and for which he has great ambitions, despite persistent rumors of a departure in recent weeks.
Also read: Benzema Ballon d’or: from pariah to hero, the journey to redemption
“Being in Saudi Arabia is a new challenge that I like: a long-term project in a Muslim country,” he says.
I am not only a football player in Saudi Arabia, I am also an ambassador.
I am here to bring in great European players in the near future, even if there are already great ones in the Saudi championship.
Our challenge is to raise it to the same level as the European leagues.
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