Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio found the back of the net as defending champions Real Madrid secured a 2-0 advantage vs Chelsea as the sides faced off in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals in the Spanish capital on Wednesday.
Chelsea looked lively and dangerous on the counter-attack early on, but eventually Real Madrid settled into prolonged periods of possession, forcing the Chelsea defense to withdraw deeper and deeper.
In the 21st minute, the pressure paid off, as Dani Carvajal lifted a ball into the penalty area and Vinicius Junior forced a tough save out of Kepa Arrizabalaga. Too far away to hold onto the ball, Kepa was only able to poke it into the path of Benzema for an open-goal tap-in and a 1-0 advantage.
Two minutes later, Raheem Sterling had Chelsea’s best scoring chance, but former Blue Thibaut Courtois got down quickly and sprawled out across his goal to palm the ball wide of the post.
Real Madrid continued to threaten and cause problems and eventually, just before the hour mark, Chelsea were reduced to 10 men. Rodrygo got on the end of a long ball in behind the Chelsea, before Ben Chilwell pulled him down from behind on the edge of the penalty area. Denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, and a straight red card.
It was all Real Madrid following the sending-off, and Los Blancos got their (deserved) second goal in the 74th minute. Vinicius whipped a cut-back cross to Asensio atop the penalty area, and Asensio whipped a first-time, left-footed finish through traffic and just under Kepa’s hand to make it 2-0.