Advantage For Real Madrid And Villarreal Ahead Of Second-leg Quarter Final UCL Clash.

Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Villarreal secures vital victory in the Champions League first-leg quarter final fixtures on Wednesday night.

Karim Benzema joined the list of four players to have scored a back-to-back HAT-TRICKS in Champions League history.  

The Frenchman scored his second successive Champions League hattricks against Chelsea in 46 minutes, having helped the Los Blancos score three goals to come from behind to eliminate Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of the last 16.

Chelsea were the slight favourites going into the game, having beaten the same side in the semifinals on their way to winning the competition last season.

It was a nightmare for the Blues, as Benzema was again at his very best to punish the defending European champions at their own stadium (Stamford Bridge) on Wednesday night, as he scored three goals past Edouard Mendy to put Carlo Ancelotti's side in the driving seat ahead of the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Benzema gave Real Madrid the lead with a brilliant header in the 21st minute through a Vinicius Junior cross, before doubling his side's lead with another superb header four minutes later, this time the cross came from Toni Kroos and from a much deeper position.

Kai Havertz did manage to pull one back with a header again just before half time (40th mins), giving them a brief hope of a comeback.

Benzema didn't stop scoring, as he ensured he got his hattrick just a minute into the second half he netted again after a slight error between Antonio Rudiger and Mendy. Same thing he did in the last 16, the No.9 pressed the opposition goalkeeper (Gianluigi Donnarumma) and forced a mistake which left him to tap into an open goal from outside the box.

He is the first player in history to ever score a European hat-trick against Chelsea.

The superb goal bring his tally for the season up to a phenomenal 37 goals in just 36 appearances across all competitions.

With his third goal, Benzema set another record on the night by becoming the first French player to ever hit double-figures in a Champions League season, having surpassed Fontaine, who scored 10 time in the European Cup for Reims in the 1958-59 season as per Opta.

The defeat was Chelsea’s second on the spin at Stamford Bridge, after their shock 4-1 loss on Saturday against Brentford in the Premier League. 

"It is a heavy loss," Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel said after the Madrid game. 

"It was one of the worst first halves that I saw from us here at Stamford Bridge.

"Individually and as a team, it was by far not enough. It was far from our standards, and then you lose games.

"If we keep playing like this, we will lose our next game at Southampton, and then we will get hammered at Bernabeu," he added.

Chelsea will now have go to Madrid next Tuesday with the hope of scoring at least two goals without conceding any to send the match to extra-time if they want to retain the title.

Given how Real Madrid themselves made it into the quarter-finals, they will be reluctant to say that they have one foot in the Champions League semi-finals, even though they have a good first-leg advantage. 

On the other hand, Bayern Munich were upset by Unai Emery's team, who prevailed 1-0 in Wednesday's quarter-final first leg thanks to Arnaut Danjuma's early goal.

The former Arsenal boss Unai Emery found an answer to Bayern's intimidating attack, limitating the Bavarians to half chances through out, and even keeping a clean sheet against a team that almost always manages to find the target.

More than three years have passed (30 games) since the Bundesliga giants last failed to score in a Champions League game. Liverpool were the last side to shut out the Bavarians, in a 0-0 draw in February 2019.

Villareal opened scoring on the night when Nigerian-born Dutch footballer Arnaut Danjuma Groeneveld  was at the end of a beautiful team move that left Manuel Neuer rooted to one spot.

The 25-year-old former Bournemouth winger becomes Villarreal's top goalscorer of all time in the Champions League with 6 goals in 9 games this season.

 

Villarreal fans went wild when Francis Coquelin scored Villarreal's second goal, but VAR ruled the goal offside, and celebrations were cut short.

The 1-0 defeat at Villarreal brought an end to Bayern's record-breaking run on the road in Europe.

According to Opta, their Champions League record streak of 22 unbeaten away games comes to an end with their first away defeat in the competition since their 0-3 loss to PSG in September 2017; back then Unai Emery was also in charge of their opponents. Deja-vu.

Bayern will now look to turn the tables on Emery in the second leg at Allianz Arena, which takes place on April 12.