Istanbul / TEH: Real Madrid has taken a big step towards reaching the Champions League semi-finals, after beating its host Chelsea, by three goals to one, on Wednesday, in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the continental competition.
The first half of the match was remarkable, as was expected from the two teams, as Real surprised its opponent with an attacking performance that could have resulted in an early goal in the 10th minute, had it not been for the crossbar of Chelsea’s goal that responded to the Brazilian Vinicius Juniors’ shot.
The advantage of Real resulted in the first goals of the meeting in the 21st minute, which came after a quick attack that Vinicius ended with a perfect cross pass, which was received by the French Karim Benzema with a beautiful header and put the ball through the London net.
Only 3 minutes passed until Benzema returned and scored the second goal for him and his team in a scenario similar to the first goal, investing a lofted ball from Croatian Luka Modric.
After the second goal, Chelsea felt the embarrassment of the situation and intensified its attacks until it was able to reduce the difference by the 40th minute, after a ball sent by the Italian Jorginho into the Real Madrid penalty, which reached the German Kai Haveritz, who followed it with his head to the left of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
The first minute of the second half witnessed an unexpected shock for the Chelsea team, which conceded the third goal after a fatal defensive error committed by Senegalese goalkeeper Edward Mendy, and Benzema took advantage of it to put the ball inside the goal.
The remaining minutes of the match witnessed many attempts by Chelsea, according to a Sports News website in India, who searched for a goal to revive the hopes of a return, but Thibaut Courtois presented a remarkable level as usual in the big dates and prevented his net from being shaken again.
The victory at Stamford Bridge gave Real Madrid a big advantage in the return leg next week at the Santiago Bernabeu and reached the semi-finals of the most important European competition.
