Following Real Madrid’s 1-3 humbling of Chelsea in Wednesday night’s Champions League quarter-final first leg at Stamford Bridge, Carlo Ancelotti told Amazon Prime, “Before the game, Benzema was not able to find his pass to enter the stadium”, per Fabrizio Romano.
Ancelotti went on to say, “I told him: ‘Be fast or you can’t play!’. Then luckily Karim found the pass”, according to Romano.
Benzema went on to start and score his second consecutive Champions League hat-trick, as Real Madrid took one step into the semi-finals of the competition, at the expense of Chelsea, and Edouard Mendy, who was head in hands after gifting the Frenchman his third of the evening.
“How to describe Benzema? I’ve no words (laughs). I’d say the Big Karim”, Ancelotti told Amazon Prime.
Hat-trick for Benzema! ??
The worst possible start to the second half for Chelsea… ?
A terrible defensive mix up between Édouard Mendy and Antonio Rüdiger allows a tap in for Real Madrid's star man ??#UCL pic.twitter.com/GJDtp3IM6u
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 6, 2022
Despite being 34, Karim Benzema looks to be showing no intentions of slowing down as the Madrid veteran has now scored 11 goals and registered an assist in just eight Champions League matches played this season, and now occupies the fourth spot in all-time Champions League goals, with 82 goals – three shy of Robert Lewandowski.
On top of that, Benzema has been no slouch in La Liga either, netting 24 and assisting 11 in 26 league matches for the Spanish giants, leading some journalists to suggest a potential Balon d’Or season for the Frenchman.
The result dealt a hammer blow to the current Champions League holders, Chelsea, who were lambasted by their coach at full-time, and look to be all but out of the competition as they face a trip to the Bernabeu in the coming weeks.
Should Real Madrid progress further into the competition, they will be set to chase their fifth Champions League title in a decade, adding to their world-leading tally of 13 European Cup wins in the club’s history.