Bernabeu magic: Madrid advances to semi-finals
Chelsea won the game, but not by enough as Madrid managed a comeback to send them into extra time and allow Benzema to work his magic.
Real Madrid will move on to the Champions League semi-finals, despite losing to Chelsea in their second leg of the quarterfinals. They needed to either win, tie, or lose by just one, and they managed the latter.
In last night’s game, Chelsea took the lead with a strong net by Mason Mount, followed later on by another goal by Antonio Rüdiger. Rüdiger has scored five goals in all competitions for Chelsea this season, one more than he managed in his three previous campaigns combined.
“Toni was outstanding,” said Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel. “It was a world-class performance in all belongings. It’s what he does on an extremely high level. It’s his mentality and focus and leadership. Combined, it’s outstanding.”
Real Madrid was scoreless in the first half and Chelsea kept the goals coming, with a third in the 75th minute by Timo Warner, putting Chelsea up 3-0.
“It’s true that we didn’t show a lot of hunger to try to score goals in the first half,” said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti. “But the start from behind was good. We had difficulties.”
That’s when Madrid woke up. Rodrygo got the Spanish side their first goal of the night just in time, in the 80th minute, ending the game at 3-1 and sending it into extra time. Karim Benzema, who got two hat tricks in a row for Real Madrid in their last two games, was the hero of the night. He scored the second goal of the night in the 96th minute, making it a 3-2 final.
“After 2-0, the team had a psychological downturn,” said Ancelotti. “But how can I explain it? The magic of the stadium helped the players and the team a lot to never give up.”
Despite the loss, Madrid advances because in the first leg, they beat Chelsea 3-1 with Benzema’s hat trick, which made the total score Madrid, 5 - Chelsea, 4.
This makes the 31st time that Real Madrid has made it to the semi-finals of the European Cup/Champions League - at least 11 more times than any other side.
“I am very happy to reach the semi-finals with this team and this club,” said Ancelotti.
Chelsea became just the second English team to score three away goals against Real Madrid in a European competition.
“We are very disappointed and very proud at the same time,” said Tuchel. “Because we played a fantastic match and deserved what we had. We scored four goals and had big chances to score even more. We were unlucky - that is why we’re disappointed.”