Karim Benzema has reprised the sizzling performance he racked up dispatching PSG from the Champions League by blitzing another magnificent hattrick past Chelsea.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Having been key in routing Paris Saint-Germain with a treble, Benzema is almost single-handedly ramping up the Spanish giant\u2019s charge for a 14th European Cup. The scintillating France forward has now recorded 37 goals in 36 games in all competitions this season.<\/p>\n
Benzema\u2019s 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\u2019s raising doubts about whether Chelsea are capable of achieving a comeback in the Spanish capital on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Although the west London club had harbored hopes of surmounting the challenge when Kai Havertz\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Benzema’s precision \u2013 immediately obvious from the quality of his first-half headers \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"