Benzema and Marco Asensio left the white team with one foot in the semifinals
Chelsea had his chance as soon as he started in Joao Félix’s boots, but the expulsion of Chilwell conditioned him
Real Madrid fulfilled the forecasts and already has a foot and a half in the Champions League semifinals after showing itself to be superior and defeating a Chelsea that showed all its miseries on the pitch of the Santiago Bernabéu. Frank Lampard tried to weather the storm with a defense of five and three midfielders very close to his area, but his invention lasted just 21 minutes, which it took Benzema to open the scoring. Marco Asensio sealed the 2-0 lead to put Real Madrid on the path to that long-awaited duel against Manchester City… with the permission of Bayern and Chelsea.
DATA SHEET
Champions League
RMA
CHE
LINEUPS
real Madrid
Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Camavinga (Rüdiger, 71′); Fede Valverde, Kroos (Tchouaméni, 84′), Modric (Ceballos, 81′); Rodrygo (Marco Asensio, 71′), Benzema and Vinicius.
Chelsea
Kepa; James, Fofana, Thiago Silva (Mount, 75′), Koulibaly (Cucurella, 55′), Chilwell; Kanté (Gallagher, 75′), Enzo Fermández, Kovacic; Sterling (Havertz, 65′) and Joao Félix (Chalobah, 65′).
goals
1-0 M.21 Benzema. 2-0 M.73 Marco Asensio.
Referee
Francois Letexier (France). TA: Camavinga (7′), Militao (83′), Dani Carvajal (85′) / Fofana (5′). TR: Chilwell (59′)
incidents
Match corresponding to the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals played at the Santiago Bernabéu in front of 63,142 spectators.
Joao Félix had the opportunity to change the game script as soon as it started, but the Portuguese striker made it clear why Atlético got rid of him in the last winter market. Kanté left him in a free run to stand completely alone against Courtois, but the Portuguese was very slow, allowed Militao to recover and ended up resolving what had to be a clear one-on-one with a forced shot at the Belgian’s hands.
Three minutes later came a second key action to understand the madridista triumph. François Letexier showed Fofana the yellow in the first foul on Viniciusconditioning the central defender that he had to face the Brazilian when James joined the attack and showing Real Madrid the way to find Kepa’s goal.
The whites overturned the game on that left wing, which became a real highway for Vinicius, Camavinga, Modric, Fede Valverde… anyone who appeared there. And so he arrived he opened the can. Dani Carvajal hung a ball behind Fofana’s back and Vinicius ate his toast to force Kepa into a forced rebound that left the leather for Benzema riveted to empty door.
James tried to return the coin to Camavinga, who was also yellow, but there the figure of Courtois to repel Sterling’s point-blank shot at the near stick and prevent equality from returning to the scoreboard.
That was the last spark of a Chelsea that dwindled until it disappeared with the Chilwell ouster for bringing down Rodrygo when the Real Madrid striker was going to enter the area to face Kepa.
Outnumbered and without Koulibaly, who had left the field due to injury minutes before, Chelsea were easy prey for a Real Madrid team that launched itself to try to resolve the tie. Ancelotti did his bit by giving way to a Marco Asensio who demonstrated his punch on the first occasion presented to him. Low shoe adjusted to the post from the front and Fofana doing a last service, covering Kepa’s vision and letting the leather pass between his legs. 2-0 and tie on track.
Real Madrid sought to extend their advantage in the final stretch. And he had the opportunity in the head of Benzema. As at 1-0, the Frenchman found himself with a free ball, at an empty goal, but in a slightly forced position and ended up finishing wide.
Already at the discount Rüdiger appeared to deflect a shot from Gallagher’s point-blank range that would have given Chelsea some hope for the second leg. It was not like that and Real Madrid is already close to the semifinals.