Hero to villain: Benzema's miss sends Al Hilal out in last 16

The French striker sent his shot over the crossbar in the decisive shootout against Al-Sadd. Despite providing an assist during the 120 minutes, his mistake from the spot sealed the fate of the Saudi team, which bowed out of the competition after a thrilling 3-3 draw in regular time.

– Monday, 13 April 2026

Simone Inzaghi’s side took the lead in the match in the 29th minute of the first half thanks to a goal from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic , the former Lazio player. Later, Claudinho equalized for Roberto Mancini’s team; Salem Al-Dawsari made it 2-1; Rafa Mujica leveled the match once again; Marcos Leonardo put Al Hilal ahead for the third time, and Brazilian Roberto Firmino equalized again to seal the final result.

For his part, Benzema started and played the full match . Having recently scored a hat trick in the Saudi Pro League, he did not score , but he did assist Al-Dawsari for Al Hilal’s second goal. With the draw still intact after extra time ended , everything had to be decided in a penalty shootout .

The veteran striker , who took the third penalty (the sixth of the entire shootout), sent his shot over the crossbar and missed the chance to swing the series in his team’s favor . Saimon Bouabré also missed the next one, and Qatari forward Akram Afif sealed the win for Al-Sadd . They will now face Japan’s Vissel Kobe , which eliminated FC Seoul 3-1 on aggregate over the two matches.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.