The Spanish clubs emerge victorious in the Champions League matchday
This Wednesday the last two first leg matches of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals were played and they stood out for the great performance of Villarreal and Real Madrid, where they were able to beat their strong rivals. The whites won at home with a final score of 1-3.
The match took place at Stamford Bridge at 3:00 pm (Venezuela time) and Carlo Ancelotti's team defeated the current champions of the competition with a hat-trick by Frenchman Karim Benzema.
The home team taking the initiative in the face of the rival goal, but it was Militao, on behalf of the 'merengues', who had the first opportunity for his team in minute 4 with a long shot that Mendy caught without problems.
However, at 5' Chelsea made a quick counter through Havertz, who entered the area and dribbled past Alaba, was able to open the scoring, but the Austrian interfered with his shot and the ball went over the crossbar.
The first clear of the game was at minute 9, when Valverde led an attack at speed and reaching the edge of the area, he passed it to Vinicius, who dribbled past the defense and took a powerful shot that hit the crossbar and went. The Brazilian almost scored.
At minute 14, Chelsea would have another through James, who charged a foul near the area for a tackle by Militao, Courtois would stop it by deflecting the shot.
However, at 21 'Madrid opened the scoring through Benzema, who had previously made a wall with Vinicius and the Brazilian had escaped at speed down the left wing and reaching the bottom line he took a center that the Frenchman He hits his head and manages to beat the 'Blues' goalkeeper. 0-1 partial.
Three minutes later, Benzema himself scores another headed goal. This time the play started from a center by Modric from the right, the Frenchman entered the middle and changed the trajectory of the ball passing through the right post and goalkeeper Mendy, despite his stretch, could not avoid the second. 0-2 partial.
From that moment on there were occasions for both teams, although the locals began to have more initiatives in attack and to order their game more, however, at 29' there was a corner that Militao hit with his head, but this time Mendy managed to avoid the third for whites.
At minute 32 Real Madrid returns to try the third and this time with a great play by Carvajal who enters the area from the right and ends up finishing off with the left without much power, but Mendy manages to stop near the goal line and Christensen clears.
Chelsea's discount would reach 39', after a cross from the right sent by Jorginho that Havertz manages to head powerfully, goalkeeper Courtois manages to touch it with his hand, but the ball went into the back of the net. 1-2 on the scoreboard.
Another great opportunity would come at minute 41, when Vinicius escaped from the left again and sent a cross to Benzema again, but the defender cleared badly and the Frenchman finished off, although not very comfortably, and the ball went away slightly deviated. So they would go to rest.
Starting the second half, at 46' Benzema would score the third goal for the Merengues and the last of the match. The play was produced by a pass from goalkeeper Mendy that was too short for Rüdiger, the Madrid '9' was close to the defender's location, managed to take the ball from him and defined an empty goal. French hat-trick and final 1-3.
At minute 49, Chelsea responded with a powerful shot by Azpilicueta from outside the area and Courtois deflected to the corner after a great stretch with a changed hand.
After the changes made by Tuchel, Lukaku had a clear chance at 68', after a center by Azpilicueta that tried to deflect a Madrid defender, but the ball was left for the Belgian to define only with a header and it went wide.
In the last minutes, the locals would have some occasions that they did not know how to take advantage of. Real Madrid knew how to endure the result with their sights set on the second leg next Tuesday, April 12, at the Santiago Bernabéu.
With these goals, the Frenchman Karim Benzema consolidates himself in the fourth position of the top scorers in the UEFA Champions League with 82 goals. In the first position is the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo with 141, followed by Messi with 125 and the Pole Robert Lewandowski in third place with 85 goals.
Villarreal beats Bayern Munich by the minimum
Simultaneously, the match between Villarreal and Bayern Munich took place at the Cerámica stadium. The 'yellow submarine' knew how to suffer and even deserved more, but it ended with a goal from Danjuma in the first few minutes.
The surprise came and Villarreal will have to prepare a good strategy to maintain the result in Germany, next Tuesday in the second leg that will take place at the Allianz Arena.
Those led by Emery began imposing conditions on the field of play and it was reflected in the goal at minute 8. The play starts with Lo Celso passing it to Gerard who was on the right wing, who passes it back to Lo Celso who arrives to the by-line and enters the area to give a pass to Parejo who shoots first, but Danjuma manages to deflect and score.
From that moment on there were chances for both teams, although Bayern took control of the game, but did not clearly reach the area defended by Rulli.
However, at minute 40 the "yellow submarine" had another chance that ended in a goal, but it was annulled for offside. The play started with a pass they made to Coquelin who entered the left sector of the area and tried to make a cross for Gerard, but the ball ended up hitting the goalkeeper's right post and went in.
That way they would go to rest. In the second half the chances would continue for both teams. At 49', after a series of passes and cuts in the Villarreal area, Gnabry dribbled past Lo Celso and then hit him from under the left foot and the ball went slightly wide near Rulli's right post.
At 52' the locals would once again have a clear chance. Gerard receives a pass in the right corner of the large area, they leave him space and he shoots powerfully with his left foot, but the ball hits Neuer's left post.
At 62', Neuer himself helps the defense that had advanced lines and led the German goalkeeper to pass the ball to Kimmich almost in the center of the field. Gerard intercepted the pass and from there he took a powerful shot to try to score on an empty goal, but the ball went slightly wide near the right post of the goal.
Bayern would try to equalize, generating several dangerous chances, but goalkeeper Rulli would be decisive in keeping his goal clean and thus neutralizing all the initiatives of the Bavarian team.
At 86' there was a play that could have ended in 2-0. Lo Celso receives a ball, escapes at speed and only Upamecano marked him, dribbles him and passes it to Pedraza, who entered only from the left, but the shot goes off course.
Thus, the match would end with an important victory for the Spanish team, which will have the difficult task of maintaining the result in the second leg that will be in Germany.