Karim Benzema on Wednesday night scored a scintillating hat-trick to help Real Madrid in control of their Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea, with a 3-1 victory at Stamford Bridge, while Kai Havertz scored the only goal for the hosts.
Real Madrid defeated Paris Saint-Germainin their Round of 16 tie, however they have not been very impressive lately.
“This is one of those magical nights, like the other day at the Bernabeu with Paris. Today we went out to win, to show that we are Real Madrid. Everything went well for us we played well, from the first minute to the last minute.” Benzema said.
“All three. Those are very important goals. I was happiest when I scored the third because I missed a goal in the first half and I’m thinking about that opportunity because it’s so important to score goals. Then I got one more goal and I’m very happy.” Benzema added.
Kai Havertz scored a fine header of his own to reduce the gap, but a terrible defensive blunder right after half-time saw Benzema roll in his hat-trick and reestablish the two-goal lead.
“In the second half, we had 16 shots on target. You can always turn things around, you can equalize, you can win, but if you kill yourself after 48 minutes, it’s harder. We still had a chance in the second half, to come back 3-2. But not today.” Chelsea Boss Thomas Tuchel said.
“The most important thing is that we have to go to Southampton first. I will have to make sure that every player prepares for the next game, this is the most important thing right now.
“If we keep playing like this we will lose to Southampton. And then we don’t have to think about the Bernabeu, we will be beaten at the Bernabeu.” Tuchel added.
It was an incredibly entertaining, open game in west London but the Blues have it all to do in Madrid next week to take the defence of their Champions League trophy to the semi-final stage.
