Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema scores the group’s first aim towards Chelsea within the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal on the Santiago Bernebeu on April 12, 2023
| Photo Credit: Reuters
A faucet-in by Karim Benzema and a strong strike by substitute Marco Asensio earned European champions Real Madrid a 2-0 win over 10-man Chelsea of their Champions League quarterfinal, first leg within the Spanish capital on Wednesday.
Benzema, the scourge of Chelsea on the similar stage of the competitors final season, transformed from level clean vary within the twenty first minute when Kepa Arrizabalaga saved from Vinicius Junior however may solely contact the ball within the route of the Frenchman.
It was Benzema’s ninetieth Champions League aim with the final 11 all coming towards English golf equipment.
Chelsea — beneath caretaker coach Frank Lampard after a dismal season to this point — went near scoring within the first half however Joao Felix and Raheem Sterling had been thwarted by Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois taking part in towards his former membership.
The Londoners’ probabilities of getting again into the sport suffered a serious setback within the 59th minute when Ben Chilwell was proven a straight pink card for bringing down Rodrygo with a tug of the Brazilian’s shirt when he was bearing down on aim.
Asensio had been on the sector for simply three minutes when he was fed by Vinicius on the sting of the field and the Spain worldwide drilled in a low shot that went by way of the legs of Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana and past Kepa’s dive.
The win on the Santiago Bernabeu stadium places the 14-time European champions within the driver’s seat forward of the second leg at Stamford Bridge on April 18.
Benzema, who scored a hat-trick in London final yr earlier than getting one other in Madrid in a 5-4 mixture thriller, may have successfully seen off Chelsea in added time on the finish of the second half when he headed over with the aim at his mercy after Kepa may solely punch the ball so far as him.
Chelsea substitute Mason Mount then got here near a vital aim for the Blues when he turned and shot within the penalty space however former group mate Antonio Rudiger, additionally on off the bench, raced in to dam.
In the top, the Londoners didn’t scored for a fourth match in a row — three of them within the Premier League — their longest barren run since 1993.
Lampard — Chelsea’s prime goalscorer who returned to Stamford Bridge for a second spell as coach till the top of the season after Graham Potter was fired this month — embraced Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti, himself an ex-Chelsea supervisor, on the ultimate whistle.
“They’re a very good team but we have to believe,” Lampard informed BT Sport, referring to subsequent week’s return leg in London.
Source web site: www.thehindu.com
