{"id":462082,"date":"2026-02-06T10:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T10:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/462082\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T10:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T10:26:12","slug":"karim-benzema-scores-hat-trick-in-dream-debut-for-al-hilal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/462082\/","title":{"rendered":"Karim Benzema scores hat-trick in dream debut for Al Hilal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-testid=\"wcl-news-perex\" itemprop=\"description\">Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick and grabbed an assist on his debut for Saudi Pro League leaders Al-Hilal as \u200bthey thrashed lowly Al Okhdood 6-0 on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old joined <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.com\/team\/al-hilal\/hxxcePl9\/\" data-analytics-element=\"ARTICLE_TEXT_LINK\" data-analytics-alias=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Al Hilal<\/a> on Monday after \u200creports said he turned down an \u200coffer to extend his contract with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.com\/team\/al-ittihad\/QmsyAjWh\/\" data-analytics-element=\"ARTICLE_TEXT_LINK\" data-analytics-alias=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Al Ittihad<\/a>, who he joined on a free transfer in 2023 after 14 years \u2060with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.com\/team\/real-madrid\/W8mj7MDD\/\" data-analytics-element=\"ARTICLE_TEXT_LINK\" data-analytics-alias=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Real Madrid<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The former France striker made \u200can immediate impact for his new side as \u200bhe broke the deadlock in style with a back-heel touch after seizing on a loose ball inside the area shortly after the half-hour mark.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.com\/player\/benzema-karim\/tpV0VX0S\/\" data-analytics-element=\"ARTICLE_TEXT_LINK\" data-analytics-alias=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Benzema<\/a> \u200cdoubled the score with a low, close-range drive in the 60th minute and four minutes later completed his \u2060hat-trick with another close-range effort.<\/p>\n<p>The Frenchman set up Malcom for Al-Hilal&#8217;s fourth, shortly before being substituted in the 71st minute.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.com\/match\/football\/al-hilal-hxxcePl9\/al-okhdood-tKjRGGMC\/?mid=Y7wGEmnp\" data-analytics-element=\"ARTICLE_TEXT_LINK\" data-analytics-alias=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">important game<\/a> today. So we are happy, we play well, we do a clean sheet and we score so we are happy,&#8221; Benzema said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everybody is good \u2060with me, they give me \u200ceverything, so when I am on the pitch I give everything for them,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.com\/player\/al-dawsari-salem\/GnALxwj4\/\" data-analytics-element=\"ARTICLE_TEXT_LINK\" data-analytics-alias=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Salem Al-Dawsari<\/a>, the AFC Player of the Year for \u20602025, completed the rout with \u200ba brace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick and grabbed an assist on his debut for Saudi Pro League leaders Al-Hilal&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-462082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}