Real take down Chelsea – Benzema’s last word in Tuchel’s almost perfect script – sport

Always Karim Benzema. If the Frenchman had already scored all of Real’s goals in the 3-1 first leg of the quarter-finals, the unstoppable number 9 acted as a scare for Chelsea in the reprise as well. His header in the 6th minute of extra time meant the 2:3 that was so important for the Madrilenians and thus the semi-final ticket in the Champions League. He nodded Vinicius Junior’s cross from 6 meters past Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy.

The happy ending for the “royal”, the tragic finale for equal Chelsea. Because the guests pressed in vain for another hit to save themselves in the penalty shootout.

It was 0:3 up to the 80th minute

20 minutes earlier it had been eerily quiet at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. The home side of Real Madrid had actually gambled away the 3-1 cushion from the first leg of the quarter-finals against Chelsea and were even 3-0 behind. Carlo Ancelotti responded and brought Rodrygo. The 21-year-old thanked his coach just 2 minutes later: he scored a wonderful outside instep pass from Luka Modric to make it 1:3. At least the “Blancos” had still reached the extension at this point.

Tuchel and the “fantastic screenplay”

In order to progress further, the game would have to follow a “fantastic script”, Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel was aware after the 3-1 draw in the first leg. The first act actually went according to the German’s taste: the ball landed somewhat happily from Timo Werner’s thigh directly into Mason Mount’s path. He confidently flicked the ball into the right corner to make it 1-0 (15′).

Immediately after the break things got even better from a blue perspective: Antonio Rüdiger climbed the highest after a corner kick and headed in to make it 2-0 (51′). The result that opened the door to extra time for the Londoners. When Marcos Alonso made it 3-0 13 minutes later, Tuchel seemed even closer to the happy ending he had dreamed of.

A drama never ends with the climax

But as is well known, a good screenplay can hardly do without a twist. In this case, the VAR intervened, the ball hit the hand of the Spaniard Alonso – no goal! The next round followed immediately: Benzema headed the ball to the crossbar (66′). The “Blues” – as the away team all in yellow – were not deterred. Werner took off after a nice dribbling. Real keeper Thibaut Courtois could only deflect the ball and watch it cross the goal line (75′).

From Chelsea’s point of view, the climax was reached with the 3-0. But naturally, a classic drama never ends there. In fact: first the Rodrygo dampener and then the Benzema header – the appearance of the hero of the play also meant catastrophe for the opponent from London.

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