Champions League: Karim Benzema's Hattrick Leads Real Madrid To Beat Chelsea

 

Karim Beneza scored an hattrick that led Real Madrid to get a well-deserved 3-1 win against Chelsea at Stanford Bridge in the first-leg tie of the quarter-finals. 

Real proved to be the better side for most of the first half by making the most of fast breaks and the combination of Vini Junior and Benzema really tore down Chelsea's defense and could not help but concede goals from the Frenchman. 

Benzema scored with a header twice within three minutes in the first half with assists from Vini Jr. and Luka Modric and Chelsea reduced the lead with their first and only goal from Kai Havertz's header from close range before the break.

However, Chelsea had escaped conceding even two more goals from Benzema before break, but a goalkeeping error from Edouard Mendy would make Real's lead even wider after the break. A poor pass between Mendy and N'Golo Kante gave the loose ball away to Benzema and he slammed a low-cut shot down home to the empty net. 

Looking past Mendy's mistake, Real had their game plan in forced and deserved the victory as they repeatedly could break into Blues' defense. Chelsea had most of the second half but could not make anything out of it. 

Blues later came out strong on the attack and put Thibaut Courtois to the test with a 30-yard shot that clip the crossbar from Cesar Azpilicueta and he set off Romelu Lukaku with a cross for a header from close range but was missed. 

Benzema scoring a hattrick during the game made him the first player ever to do so in four successive Champions League and extended his goal tally to 37 in all competitions.