Real Madrid beat Chelsea 3-1 in London, with a hat-trick from Karim Benzema, this Wednesday in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals to face the second leg next week at the Santiago Bernabéu with a significant advantage.
Benzema opened the scoring with a header (21), repeated with another header (24) and closed his account to an empty goal (46), but Kai Havertz, also with a header, closed the gap (24) to maintain some hope for the reigning European champion .
“It’s a magical night like at the Bernabéu the other day against PSG. We entered the field to win and show what Real Madrid is”, Benzema told the Movistar+ platform after the match.
The white team, which in the round of 16 had appealed to the epic to eliminate Paris Saint-Germain, managed to beat Chelsea, beset by off-sports problems, who on the Stamford Bridge pitch were unable to stop an inspired Benzema.
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The Frenchman, who once again connected perfectly with Vinicius, is already the second best scorer in this edition of the Champions League, tied on 11 goals with Sebastian Haller and only surpassed by Robert Lewandowski (12).
Chelsea began by dominating the ball against a Real Madrid team that was pressing trying to win the ball back quickly to go on the attack. The white team soon gave their first warning in a quick counterattack, culminated by Vinicius with a shot that hit the crossbar (10).
Benzema, once again the great figure
Chelsea tried to get close to Thibaut Courtois’s door, who was once again another of Real’s determining men, entering from the flanks, but was met by the orderly defense of the white team.
The English team also had problems with their pressing, which was too slow, which favored Real Madrid, who soon found the goal.
A new arrival from Vinicius on the left ended with a cross to the area where Benzema appeared to finish off a header to the nets of Edouard Mendy (21).
Just three minutes later, the French extended the merengue account with another header in the race from a pass from Luka Modric (24).
The goals fell like a jug of cold water in the field of a Chelsea with many inaccuracies in defense. Behind on the scoreboard, the English team did not lower their arms and rushed forward in search of goal, but it was difficult for them to find the gaps in the compact white defense.
Thomas Tuchel’s team managed to close the gap when Havertz headed a cross into the box almost from close range (40). The goal roused the English fans at Stamford Bridge, but the joy was short-lived.
Mendy’s mistake ended Chelsea’s aspirations
As soon as he came back from the break, Benzema took advantage of a serious mistake by goalkeeper Mendy who had left his area and, under pressure from the Frenchman, gave Antonio Rudiger a bad match.
Benzema cut the pass to go towards the goal and score on an empty goal to make it 3-1 (46), which made the game very difficult for the locals.
Chelsea were able to close the gap with a shot from the edge of the box by César Azpilicueta, who was looking for Courtois’s left-hand corner, forcing the Real Madrid goalkeeper to fly (50).
The English team began to create more problems with the entry of striker Romelu Lukaku by Christian Pulisic (64) and the exit of the white central Eder Militao touched by Nacho (64), with which the white defense lost one of its great strengths.
Militao will also be an important casualty in the second leg due to suspension after seeing a yellow card this Wednesday while being warned.
In the final minutes, Real Madrid began to feel tired, backing down and facilitating local arrivals. Chelsea harassed the white area, but the meringues managed to hold on to get a good result for the second leg.
SPORTS
with AFP
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