Real Madrid achieved an excellent starting position in the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Chelsea. Karim Benzema made a 1-3 starting position with three goals. As a substitute, Romelu Lukaku headed a big 2-3 chance, narrowly.
Chelsea – Real Madrid in a nutshell:
- Key moment: After Havertz’s goal shortly before the end of the first half, Chelsea started the second half in good spirits, but Mendy spoiled it for the home team. The goalkeeper makes a huge mistake when playing football and Benzema takes full advantage of that to complete a hat-trick.
- man of the match: He scored a hat-trick in two consecutive Champions League matches. Only Luis Adriano, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo did it for Karim Benzema. Moreover, Ronaldo was the only one who also did this in the knockout stage.
- noticeable: After 5 failed attempts, Real Madrid managed to beat Chelsea for the first time. It’s not the only first night, because Benzema is also the first player to score three times against Chelsea in the championship ball and for Thomas Tuchel this is his first loss against Real.
- statistics: 1/8 first leg of the Champions League finals, 1-0 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain. Since then, Benzema has scored in every match he has played (he missed the first match against Barcelona due to a calf injury). He scored 7 goals in the last 5 league matches, and in the Champions League, his tally increased to 11 goals this season. Only Robert Lewandowski is the best with 12 pieces.
Benzema’s phenomenal brilliance at Stamford Bridge
What a player, what a phenomenon. With a hat-trick in the second leg against Paris Saint-Germain, Karim Benzema single-handedly led Real to the quarter-finals and the French striker also showed what a fantastic player he is at Stamford Bridge.
Halfway through the first half, he gave Chelsea a solid lead with two goals in just 3 minutes. First, he punched a superb buffalo punch on an equally superb cross pass by Vinicius and after 165 seconds he again made a pass from Modric.
Chelsea did indeed escape an early goal after just 10 minutes on a counter-attack which he started with a beautiful heel from Benzema. Vinicius’ shot hit the crossbar. So it turned out that it was just a postponement of Real, which remained the most dangerous even after 0-2. Militao went from close range to Mendy’s hands and the goalkeeper also had to save a shot from Carvajal.
Shortly before the break, Chelsea bounced back straight. Havertz headed home after a great cross from Jorginho and Courtois could not prevent the goal: 1-2. Not long after, Jorginho almost helped Benzema with a bad tackle on a cross from Vinicius, but he showed he could make mistakes.
Benzema scores twice in less than 3 minutes:
Mendy misses, Lukaku misses a big chance
The hat trick finally came to Benzema thanks to Mendy. Immediately after the break, he made a fatal mistake in casual football and Benzema managed to deposit the ball into the empty net. His third goal of the evening was also the easiest.
Where Mindy lit, Courtois shone. With a great save, he just took a pin of Azpilicueta out of his line. Not a quick contact target for Chelsea, Real Madrid kept the reins firmly in their hands.
After the hour has passed, the haunted Lukaku gets another chance from Thomas Tuchel. But instead of capturing it, the Red Devil fueled suspicion. After a skewed cross, Lukaku slashed wide in front of goal. Right after that, a place ball from a mountain also passed with difficulty.
However, the English fire soon died down. Courtois had to come into action with a shot from James and in overtime Ziyech narrowly missed the last chance after a pass from Lukaku. Chelsea will have to work hard at the Bernabeu next week.
Romelu Lukaku can’t believe it himself.
Courtois: “We’ve taken a big step”
Thibaut Courtois received a whistle from Chelsea supporters at almost every contact with the ball, but it was a successful return for the goalkeeper to London.
The #1 said: “I think we took a big step tonight. It’s always tough here at Stamford Bridge, so it’s a good result.”
“Yesterday someone asked me if we needed Benzema and Vinicius to win the Champions League. It’s clear. Karim scores, Vinicius has the assist and kicks the crossbar.”
“Mendy’s blunder? That’s very unfortunate for a goalkeeper. But he’s already given Chelsea a lot of points, so I don’t think anyone will be mad at him tonight. He will definitely come back.”
“At the end of the second half we fell a lot and then you give them the opportunity to come in and get dangerous with the balls in front of goal. We did that a lot in the second half. Romelu had two good chances.”
“We are in good shape. In the second leg, we have to make good use of the spaces that will be there, and hopefully we can score more.”
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