Chelsea vs Real Madrid: 'Karim Benzema is really complete player,' says Carlo Ancelotti after the 3-1 Champions League win

Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti said striker Karim Benzema “is really a complete player” after the Frenchman scored a hat-trick to help his side win 3-1 away to Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-final first leg fixture. The 34-year-old striker scored the first two goals from fine headers before claiming his hat-trick when he pounced on an error by Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy just after the restart.

Read more:

Villarreal vs Bayern Munich: ‘Unai is a tactical mastermind,’ says forward Arnaut Danjuma after the 1-0 win over German giants

❤️? Everybody loves @Benzema. pic.twitter.com/TAcQ4yp9Qr

— Real Madrid C.F. ???? (@realmadriden) April 7, 2022

“He just gets better and better, like wine,” Ancelotti told reporters when asked about Benzema’s performance against the reigning European champion.

“He is a player who is showing more and more leadership, and is more and more important for this team,” the Italian said.

Benzema opened the scoring on 21 minutes when he got on the end of a fine cross from Vinicius Junior from the left to head home past Mendy. Three minutes later, The Frenchman got in between the two central defenders and headed Luka Modric’s cross nicely into the bottom left corner of Mendy’s goal.

Immediately after the break, Mendy tried to pass the ball to Antonio Rudiger well outside the box, only for Benzema to intercept and steer the ball into an empty net for his 37th goal of the season. The Frenchman is in the form of his life, his previous best goal-scoring record for Madrid was in the 2011-12 campaign, when he found the back of the net 32 times over the entire season.

“He is really complete, not just as a striker but as a player. Benzema scores a lot of goals and this is really important but he also helps the team a lot in possession,” Ancelotti said. “We are really happy and lucky to have him.”

It was a clinical performance from Ancelotti’s side as they converted three of the five attempts on goal. Although Chelsea had the majority of the ball possession, they struggled to cope with the quick counter-attacks by the visitors. 

“I still think it will be tough for us in the next game against them. For this we are focused,” he said.

Both sides will meet again at Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg next week and the winner will face either Manchester City or Atletico Madrid in the semi-final.