Champions League

What an incredible turnaround! Benzema’s hat-trick destroys PSG and sends Real Madrid to the quarter-finals

Real Madrid reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League thanks to Karim Benzema. The French international scored a hat-trick in the second half to turn the game around and give the Royal Club a 3-1 victory, which means that Kylian Mbappe’s side are out of the Champions League.

Published

3 years ago

9. 3. 2022

Eduard Nosek

From the start, the high level of commitment of both teams was evident. Kylian Mbappé had two chances, but both finishes ended in the gloves of Thibaut Courtois. On the other side, in the 25th minute, Karim Benzema fired just inches past the right post.

Mbappé opened the scoring in the 34th minute, but an offside penalty meant that the French international’s shot could not stand. In the 35th and 37th minutes, Benzema had two headers, firstly saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma, and then headed wide of the three posts.

The fans were treated to a regulation goal in the 39th minute. Mbappé sprinted away from Real’s defence and his finish on the ground to the left post was unstoppable – 1: 0 for PSG!

After the change of sides, the Parisians went for the decisive goal, but in the end they were groping and the penalty came. In the 61st minute Benzema won the ball from Donnarumma, who also committed a huge foul, whereupon the striker with the number 9 on his back equalised.

In the 76th minute, Benzema put the Spanish giants back in the lead with a second strike. Just two minutes later, he even completed his hat-trick when he got to a deflected ball and cleared it into the bottom right corner – 3-1 to Real!

The PSG players, fired up, didn’t seem to have the strength to do anything about the result and so the match ended with this result.

Lionel Messi took a direct kick, but missed it by a few centimetres. After winning 3:1, Real Madrid moves on, winning 3:2 overall and considering the score of the last match (0:1).

After Bayern, Liverpool and Manchester City, they are the fourth team to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.

Source: UEFA