Kareem Benzema was the man of the moment again for Real Madrid as he totally demolished Chelsea with his second successive UEFA Champions League hat-trick. As the rains fell at the Stamford Bridge, so did the goals in the 21st, 24th and 46th minutes. Benzema now has 11 goals in the competition and the Los Blancos have been left dreaming of a 14t European title. No French forward has reached double figures in a European campaign since 1959. He is a top tier striker who can hold his own against Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, and Robert Lewandoski. No player had scored a hat-trick against Chelsea in Europe until now. The French striker has been underated for so long and he is now proving to the planet what he is made of.

The last player to score successive hat-tricks in the UCL was Cristiano Ronaldo in 2017 for Real Madrid against Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid. Benzema was given a standing ovation by the travelling fans that leave Real Madrid going into the second tie with one leg already in the semifinal. The reigning European champions are now left to overturn a 2-0 deficit if they are at all dreaming of retaining the title. Chelsea boss, Thomas Tuchel aired out his views admitting that his team has not been in its best form ever since the return from the international break further adding that the Real Madrid performance was just a repetition of their match against Brentford in the second half. If the Blues are to pull a successive comeback at the Santiago Barnabeu, then they will have to be only the second team amongst 44 others to overturn a two goals deficit in a UCL knock out match away from home. Nothing is impossible though in the beautiful game of football especially in the UCL that has seen teams comeback from as much as a 4 goals thrashing.