Benzema's Late Strike Sends Real Madrid Into The Champions League Quarterfinal

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MADRID: Reigning champions Madrid have booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Real Madrid have ended Liverpool’s chances of winning the Champions League for the third successive season. On this occasion, though, the wonder wasn’t how you beat them but how you even score against them. Liverpool couldn’t get anywhere close to a comeback because they so struggled to get forward, leaving Karim Benzema to pick them off for a 1-0 that made it 6-2 on aggregate. Jurgen Klopp’s men failed to land a punch on the reigning champions as the historic comeback they needed never materialised.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side beat Liverpool 5-2 at Anfield in the first leg last month, and they followed that triumph with a 1-0 victory in the second leg on Wednesday to comfortably advance into the final eight, with Karim Benzema registering the only goal of the contest late on.

Both teams had a number of opportunities during an open match Bernabeu, but it was a match largely dominated by Real Madrid, who were never in danger of letting the tie slip away from them.

James Milner captained Liverpool in the absence of Jordan Henderson, and it was an attacking lineup for the visitors, with Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah all included. As for Real Madrid, Benzema was back to lead the hosts, with the forward recovering from the ankle issue that forced him to miss Saturday’s La Liga contest with Espanyol.

Benzema was involved inside the opening two minutes, racing onto a pass from Toni Kroos, although the offside flag was raised, and Alisson actually made a smart save to deny the forward.

Liverpool had a strong chance in the seventh minute when Salah got the better of Antonio Rudiger before feeding Nunez, but the striker’s low effort was saved by Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. The hosts had an opportunity of their own two minutes later when Vinicius Junior found space down the left before playing in Kroos, who delivered into a dangerous area, but it was just behind Benzema.

Kroos then tested Alisson from distance, before the Liverpool goalkeeper somehow kept out a close-range effort from Vinicius, who looked certain to score when he met a header from Antonio Rudiger. An end-to-end match then saw Liverpool have another chance, with Jota getting his volley all wrong after Salah had picked out his teammate inside the Real Madrid penalty box.

Real Madrid will now switch their attention back to La Liga, having the small matter of a trip to Camp Nou to take on leaders Barcelona on Sunday, but Liverpool will now not be in action until April 1, which will involve them travelling to the champions Manchester City in the Premier League.