Duo to miss desert rendezvous
REAL MADRID duo Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale have been ruled out of this week’s Spanish Super Cup which is to be held in Saudi Arabia.
The club confirmed in two separate statements that the forwards, who both started Saturday’s 3-0 La Liga win over Getafe, will be absent for the money-spinning trip.
Benzema has a hamstring issue, while Bale is suffering from a chest infection. A timescale has not been given for their return.
They join teammate Eden Hazard, who has an ankle problem, as well as Barcelona’s Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Valencia forward Rodrigo (both with knee issues) as highprofile absentees for the tournament, which has courted controversy since its reformatting was announced last year.
Amid criticism of Saudi Arabia’s treatment of women, agreements have been reached between the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Spanish authorities to ensure women will have free access to the King Abdullah
Stadium, where all three fixtures will be played.
In January 2018, women were allowed to enter a stadium to watch football in Saudi Arabia for the first time.
“Women can enter all these events,” the Saudi ambassador to Spain, Mansour Bin Khalid Al Farhan Al-Saud, told Marca last month.
“That is what I mean when I say there is ignorance. You have false ideas about our country. There is no limitation for women in our country.”
Saudi Arabia has followed the lead of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates by accelerating its investment in sports events to exert soft power and cast a more positive image of the country across the world.
“There is a very offensive policy to host major sporting events… to spread a different image of Saudi Arabia,” Carole Gomez, a researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations, told AFP.
Real and Valencia meet in the first semifinal in Jeddah today before Barcelona take on Atletico Madrid tomorrow later for a place in Sunday’s final.
It is the latest sports event to be held in the Kingdom, which also hosted the Italian Super Cup in December. – Reuters