Karim Benzema has reprised the sizzling performance he racked up dispatching PSG from the Champions League by blitzing another magnificent hattrick past Chelsea.
Defending champions Chelsea were absolutely stunned as the 34-year-old forward displayed his awesome scoring prowess again by leading Real Madrid to a 3-1 win Wednesday in the first leg of the quarterfinals.
Having been key in routing Paris Saint-Germain with a treble, Benzema is almost single-handedly ramping up the Spanish giant’s charge for a 14th European Cup. The scintillating France forward has now recorded 37 goals in 36 games in all competitions this season.
Benzema’s first two goals at Stamford Bridge were scorching headers scored in the first half in the pouring rain. The third came in the form of a gift offered in a manner that’s raising doubts about whether Chelsea are capable of achieving a comeback in the Spanish capital on Tuesday.
Although the west London club had harbored hopes of surmounting the challenge when Kai Havertz’s header reduced the deficit five minutes before the break, Chelsea’s abominable defending proved costly only a minute into the second half when Edouard Mendy fumbled in making a clearance when he sent a lame short pass to an Antonio Rudiger obviously caught off-guard. The pass was quickly intercepted by Benzema who drove it into the waiting net with Mendy still stranded outside the penalty area.
Benzema’s precision – immediately obvious from the quality of his first-half headers – was in sharp contrast to the dismal shortcomings of Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku who was gifted a header of his own more than 20 minutes left on the clock, but the No. 9 got it wide of the post, resulting in loud groans of disappointment from the fans.
From the look of things, it is a tad doubtful if Chelsea would be able to pull off a comeback in the Spanish capital on Tuesday with away goals now not carrying extra weight with the new format.