Karim Benzema shattered historical records in yesterday’s El Clásico! With his hat-trick into the Barcelona net, he matched Ferenc Puskás’ 60-year milestone

Real Madrid beat Barcelona yesterday to reach the Spanish Cup final. The star of the night was Karim Benzema, who scored a hat-trick. His performance makes him one of the legends of the Madrid giant.

Karim Benzema is in great form at a crucial stage of the season. He scored his second hat-trick in four days and, in particular, yesterday’s performance in the semi-final of the Spanish Cup against Barcelona thrilled the fans.

He has been plagued by numerous injuries in the early part of the season, including missing the World Cup in Qatar.

However, in the new year he has come into great form and is once again a terror for the opposing defences ahead of the most important phase of the season.

At the weekend he scored a hat-trick in a league match against Valladolid, but yesterday’s three goals in the famous El Clásico were even more important.

They sent Los Blancos to the Copa del Rey final and also marked an interesting milestone for the French canon.

Benzema became the first Real Madrid player to score a hat-trick for Barcelona in 28 years. The last time was in 1995 when Ivan Zamoran made an enormous contribution to a 5-0 home league win in El Clásico.

But the Ballon d’Or winner equalled an even much older record. It took an incredible 60 years for a White Ballet player to score a hat-trick at the famous Camp Nou. The last man to do it was the legendary Ferenc Puskás.

In 1963, he shot down Barcelona in their own stadium in a 0:4 debacle. Can he help Real achieve a trophy this season?

Sources: Ai Score, Copa del Rey