The Frenchman continues to torment English opposition, opening the scoring in his side's 2-0 win over Chelsea at the Santiago Bernabeu
Karim Benzema just loves playing against Premier League clubs.
The French forward opened the scoring in Real Madrid's 2-0 win over Chelsea on Wednesday night, meaning his last 11 goals in the Champions League have all come against English opposition. Imagine how many he'd score if he was playing against the likes of Wesley Fofana and Ben Chilwell on a weekly basis!
Vinicius Junior would run riot, too, in fairness. The winger danced through the Blues' back-line all evening and it was his shot which allowed Benzema to open the scoring, and his pass which Marco Asensio whipped into the bottom corner to seal victory for the home side.
This quarter-final tie is not yet over, of course. Chelsea could yet turn things around in the second leg at Stamford Bridge but that appears highly unlikely right now for two reasons: firstly, the Blues' abject form; and secondly, the continued presence of Benzema up front!
Below, GOAL runs through the winners and losers from another great night for the Ballon d'Or holder, who has now netted 20 goals against Premier League clubs in continental competition (only Lionel Messi has more!)…
Getty ImagesWINNER: Karim Benzema
He was always going to score, wasn’t he? Chelsea made it rather easy for Benzema to break the deadlock, but his positioning to create the tap-in opportunity should not be ignored. The French forward simply ghosted into the box, and was entirely unmarked as he turned the ball into an empty net.
Benzema was equally effective for the remainder of the contest, working in tandem with Vinicius to terrorise the Chelsea backline. He could’ve perhaps had a second in stoppage time, but will still be satisfied with his opener. And besides, he'll get another chance to add to his impressive haul against Premier League clubs when these two sides meet again in west London next week…
AdvertisementGetty ImagesLOSER: Joao Felix's finishing
How Chelsea would dearly love to have a No.9 of the quality of Benzema. The club's clueless new owners have spent a record-breaking amount of money since taking over last year and yet they've not got a single reliable goalscorer.
After all, anybody who was expecting loan signing Joao Felix to score freely for Chelsea was obviously deluding themselves. The Portuguese has never been prolific, neither for club nor country.
But nobody could have foreseen that his finishing would be this poor. When big chances have presented themselves, particularly in the Champions League, Felix has fluffed his lines time and time again. At this stage, it's not even surprising.
What shocking about his failure to score after being put clean through on goal early on was the dreadful lack of pace which allowed Eder Militao to catch up with him. Felix may have plenty of technical qualities but one really does wonder what top club would be willing to take the forward of Atletico Madrid's hands at the end of the season.
GettyWINNER: Vinicius Junior
Vinicius seems to do this every game these days. The winger tormented Wesley Fofana for 90 minutes, twisting Chelsea’s centre-back inside out with a series of cuts, feints and stopovers.
His neat run in behind led to the Madrid opener, while his electric pace stretched play for Los Blancos. He was good at keeping the ball here, too, and made the right decision more often than not.
That was exactly the case for Madrid’s second, when the winger fed a wide open Marco Asensio, who curled one into the bottom corner from outside the box. He tried to force it later on, and clearly wanted a much-deserved goal. But it was an absolutely tireless showing from a player that is somehow still getting better.
GettyLOSER: Wesley Fofana
Chelsea have overpaid for an awful lot of players this season but giving Leicester nearly £70 million for Wesley Fofana looks like a particularly dreadful deal. The centre-back's potential is obvious but he Frenchman is nothing like the finished article, as we saw once again at the Bernabeu.
Now, as outlined above, Vinicius Junior is capable of destroying even the most experienced of defenders but the easy with which he repeatedly breezed by Fofana was staggering. The one positive for the former Leicester City man is that he managed to stay on the pitch after picking up a booking inside five minutes, although that was mainly because he failed to get anywhere near the Brazilian thereafter.