Karim Benzema’s brilliant form continues as he has burned Chelsea FC in the first leg of the quarterfinal. The France international scored a hat-trick to destroy the home team, Chelsea FC, at Stamford Bridge. It is his back-to-back hat-trick in the UEFA Champions League. Karim Benzema got his first hat-trick in this tournament against Paris Saint-Germain. In the same tournament, he scored another hat-trick against Chelsea. Only Cristiano Ronaldo has done this record previously. Moreover, Benzema is now the top scorer in this UEFA Champions League. He has already scored 11 goals in 8 matches. Benzema, meanwhile, has made Real Madrid’s progress to the semifinals seem easy.
On the other hand, Chelsea FC have suffered two consecutive defeats at Stamford Bridge. They have conceded four goals against Brentford in the English Premier League. In addition, they conceded three goals last night against Real Madrid. As a result, Chelsea’s chances to go to the semifinals seem unreal.
Match Report
Chelsea have hosted the La Liga table topper, Real Madrid, at Stamford Bridge. Madrid’s boss Carlo Ancelotti set up his usual formation of 4-3-3 in this match. He hasn’t changed the squad that played against PSG. On the other hand, Thomas Tuchel played his team in a 3-4-2-1 formation.
The home team looked very confident in the first ten minutes. But Real Madrid didn’t take much time to dominate. They looked threatening whenever they got the ball. In the 21st minute, Real Madrid opened the score-sheet. Striker Karim Benzema scored the first goal with a powerful header. Vinicius Junior crossed the ball into the box, and Benzema converted it into a goal. Three minutes later, Benzema hit again. He doubled the lead in the 24th minute with another header. However, Chelsea returned one before half-time. Kai Hevertz found the net in the 40th minute for Chelsea. So the first half ended in 2-1.
Returning from the break, Karim Benzema fired again. He completed his second hat-trick in this tournament by scoring the third goal in the 46th minute. In the remaining minutes, Chelsea couldn’t score more. As a result, Real Madrid won the first leg of the quarterfinal with a 3-1 margin. They will host Chelsea at Santiago Bernabeu on 13 April.