Real Madrid are through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League – and once again it was down to Karim Benzema. The attacker brought the Bernabeu to a boil with a hat-trick.
What a night for Real Madrid! The royals provided a football feast at home in the Bernabeu, beating PSG 3-1 and making Madrid fans very happy after a 0-1 first leg. “It’s inhuman, you could see today how that pushes. With fans like that behind you, something like this is possible,” David Alaba praised the good atmosphere at the Bernabeu on DAZN after the game.
Real started bravely, but then let Paris squeeze in behind and conceded the 0:1. “It’s positive that we didn’t let ourselves go crazy after the 0:1. The second half was definitely magical. We knew we could get everything out here in Madrid with the fans behind us,” beamed Alaba. “In the second half we were very hungry, played more courageously forward again and were stronger in the pressing. “
And then the Royals have a striker in their ranks whose quality very few players have. Karim Benzema virtually single-handedly set out to turn the game around. First, he put Gianluigi Donnarumma under pressure and set up his own first goal. Then, against increasingly unsettled visitors from Paris, he followed up with a double strike, scoring his second and third goals. It was a flawless hat-trick within 17 minutes.
Benzema overtakes di Stefano
Talking about his teammate, Alaba also had to think for a moment about what words to choose. “He showed again today how important he is for us. What qualities he brings is really incredible. We are very happy to have him in our ranks,” praised the Austrian. Benzema has now scored 309 goals for Madrid, overtaking Real icon Alfredo di Stefano (308 goals).
“This is for the fans “
“This is Madrid and this is Benzema”, headlined Marca. And AS wrote: “Benzema is historic.” The striker himself praised the fans afterwards. He himself had ensured that the Bernabeu became a madhouse. “We need the fans and this is for them. It was a very difficult game, but we gave everything until the end and deserve to win. We lost the first leg and they took a 1-0 lead here, but our fans pushed us so we gave everything until the end,” said Benzema.
