Marcelo Gallardo is the new coach of Al Ittihad. Ex-River Plate‘Muñeco‘ reached an agreement with the Saudi club and arrives in the country this weekend to sign a contract.
The Argentine arrives to replace Nuno Espírito Santo. O Portuguese was fired after surprising defeat for the Air Forcefrom Iraq, last week, for Asian Champions League.
At Al Ittihad, Gallardo will be led by the stars N’Golo Kanté It is Karim Benzema. In addition to them, Marcelo Grohe, formerGuildLuiz Felipe, formerLazio, FabinhoformerLiverpoolIgor Coronado and Romarinho, formerCorinthians.
In fact, the hiring of the coach would have been approved by the French striker. It is worth remembering that the formerReal Madrid experienced episodes of conflict with the former coach of the Saudi club.
In just under a month, the coach will face the Club World Cup. In the first phase, the Saudis will have the Auckland City, from New Zealand, ahead. If you advance, your opponent will be the Al Ahlyfrom Egypt.
In a possible semi-final, Gallardo and Al Ittihad could be opponents of Fluminense, by Fernando Diniz and company. The confrontation is scheduled for December 18th, at 3 pm (Brasília time).
In nine seasons at the helm of River Plate, Marcelo Gallardo became the main coach in the history of the Argentine club. In total, they were 14 titles, including two CONMEBOL Libertadoresthree CONMEBOL Recopa is CONMEBOL South American.
Before reaching an agreement with Al Ittihad, the coach aroused interest from European clubs, such as Monaco, Olympique de Marseille, Leeds, Rome, Lyon and Sevilla, but declined invitations.
