Karim Benzema scored a second-half hat-trick against Paris St-Germain to send Real Madrid into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. Madrid’s no.9 netted thrice in the space of 18 minutes to turn the tie on its head and send the Spanish giants into the last 8 of the competition.
Benzema delivered when his team needed him most and his heroics were enough to see the 13-time European champions through to the next round, 3-2 on aggregate, as Carlo Ancelotti and his white army march on into the quarter-finals.
PSG previously came out on top in the first leg in Paris after Kylian Mbappé grabbed the decisive goal in stoppage time, giving Mauricio Pochettino’s men the advantage ahead of the return leg at the Santiago Bernabéu. Mbappé found the back of the net again in the second leg to give his side a two-goal cushion on aggregate. Mbappé also had two goals ruled out for offside, once in either half on Wednesday evening.
Madrid were in need of a minimum two goals in the last 45 minutes and their talisman turned up to the occasion. Benzema scored his first shortly after the hour mark after pressing high at PSG ‘keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, presenting the Los Blancos skipper with the easy task of tucking the ball away to draw level for the home team. Benzema doubled up with 15 minutes remaining and then completed his hat-trick barely two minutes later, putting Madrid in front for the first time across both legs and sending the home fans into a frenzy.
Karim Benzema’s game by numbers vs. PSG:
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) March 9, 2022
100% aerial duels won
15 touches in the opp. box
7 shots attempted
5 shots on target
4 passes into the opp. box
4 passes into final third
4 x possession won
3 goals
Hat-trick hero. 🎩 pic.twitter.com/vz5s89gHDA
Aged 34 years & 80 days Benzema becomes the oldest scorer of a Champions League hat-trick, displacing countryman Olivier Giroud (34 years & 65 days) and former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo (34 years & 35 days). Benzema is now the 4th-highest scorer in UCL history with 79 goals, behind Ronaldo (140), Lionel Messi (125) and Robert Lewandowski (85). Ronaldo is the only player to have scored more Champions League goals for Real Madrid than Benzema (105 – 67).
Since Ronaldo left Madrid in 2018 Benzema has become Real’s main man and the French forward has netted 25+ goals in four consecutive seasons since Ronaldo’s departure – a feat which the Frenchman achieved just three times in his first nine seasons at the Bernabéu. Benzema has surpassed Alfredo Di Stefano as Real Madrid’s 3rd-highest goalscorer of all-time, with Ronaldo (450) and Raúl (323) the only players with more goals for Madrid than Benzema (309).
Benzema’s third Champions League hat-trick takes his goal tally to 30 goals in 33 games across all competitions this season, and the French international is all but certain to elapse his greatest return in a single season at club level (32 goals in 2011/12). Benzema is the leading scorer in La Liga this term with 20 goals, and Real Madrid are eight points clear at the top of the table and on course to capture a record 35th league title.
