Shining Benzema contrasts with miserable Lukaku as Real Madrid take control of Champions League quarter-final
LONDON – At least Stamford Bridge must finally see a top striker tackle a big game.
The awkward truth for Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel is Karim Benzemaa 34-year-old player who has somehow improved with age, making this Champions League quarter-final perhaps unchangeable Real Madridfavored on Wednesdays 3-1 Victory. The France international’s stunning hat-trick included two delicate headers, while the third was a reward for the kind of push that some might think outclasses a player with years of promotion.
Take a look at Benzema’s remarkable stats: 42 goals in the last 42 games, 13 in the last seven, 10 in the last four, the fourth player to score a Champions League hat trick in a row and 11 Goals in a single season were the highest by any Frenchman in the competition.
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“Every day he gets better, like wine,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti saidwho had arrived in London hours before kick-off after testing negative for COVID-19.
Benzema is the perfect striker Chelsea think they are buying Romelu Lukaku. His first title combines laser-like precision with enough power to transform Vinicius JuniorCross in the 21st minute.
The second meeting is supposed to be better Luka ModricHis precise serve with incorrect weight but somehow guided a superb effort back to Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
Kai Havertz responds with a header of his own, conversion JorginhoThe ball was superb in the 40th minute, but, less than a minute into the second half, Benzema fouled Mendy, incorrectly heading a pass for Antonio Rudiger. Benzema beat the Chelsea midfielder in a tackle and shot into an empty net.
Lukaku watched all of this from the bench, again overlooked as a consequence of Chelsea’s release of enough evidence in recent weeks that they are now stronger without the man having be to make them so.
He entered the war just after the time limit for the unknown Christian Pulisic and within five minutes the contrast with Benzema was embarrassingly clear.
Cesar Azpilicueta made a cross on the left for Lukaku to skip seven yards. His header was unconvincing and harmlessly off target.
“It’s very important,” Tuchel said of Lukaku’s miss. “There are no goals away from home, so if we only concede one goal or draw, then you see the momentum come back when we score. We can even equalize. There are so many. gaps and opportunities. But today’s individual decisions are far from our standards.”
The home crowd welcomed Lukaku’s effort by venting their anger at a denied glorious opportunity.
Now they are used to it. There was an even worse attempt after that, hopelessly off target. In 26 minutes, he managed four touches, though one of them for setup Hakim Ziyech for an attempt to fly away.
Lukaku was signed at a great cost – 115 million euros from Internazionale – for an obvious reason: adding ruthlessness to a team that often misses out on too many opportunities.
In Tuchel’s first 50 games, Chelsea kept 31 clean sheets, more than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues.
It was this efficiency that formed the basis of last season’s surprising Champions League triumph, but this time, with the dual task of retaining the European crown and chasing the Premier League title, it is to attach the ability to recover. back then with a greater threat of attack.
Lukaku has been signed as a one-man solution but the problem remains. Havertz has evolved into a leading role for Chelsea, sometimes with an attacking partner in a 3-5-2 system or alone in Tuchel’s preferred 3-4-2-1, but even in Their six-match winning streak before the international break, admirable as it is given by broader uncertainty about club ownership and day-to-day functioning, they usually do not own the attacking rights. work can be reasonably expected of them.
Tuchel sometimes moves into number four in pursuit of a solution and he seems to regret his squad here, withdrawing N’Golo Kante and Andreas Christensen because the Mateo Kovacic and Ziyech in a series of changes to try to regulate a game that is slipping away from them.
Christensen played brilliantly from the start, leaving Vinicius’ speed and acumen unchallenged. Tuchel described creating that match with a 3-5-2 formation as “my mistake” and even took the unusual step of turning down an easy opportunity to talk about the prospect of a revival in return turn.
Asked simply if the tie still existed, Tuchel said: “No, not now. No. We have to find our level again. I don’t know where it is since taking the break. international. The first half is a repetition of the second half against Brentford [a 4-1 home defeat] in the quarterfinals against Real Madrid. Far too far from our level in absolutely everything the game demands, we can’t expect a result from this kind of performance.
“If we keep playing like this, we’ll lose Southampton and then we’ll be hammered at the Bernabeu. “
Of course, this can never be seen as Lukaku’s own fault. He is merely a figurehead for a problem Tuchel has struggled with for some time, a problem exposed here by Real’s superb first-half performance and a number of individual errors, nothing is more dangerous than Mendy’s error within 45 seconds of starting over.
And in Lukaku’s defence, none of Tuchel’s replacements worked particularly well. Ruben Loftus-Cheek replacing Jorginho at the same time as introducing Lukaku was an odd call given the importance the Italian is to the team.
Reece James It is understandable that with only their second game since December because of injury and the collective weakness of Chelsea’s right wing is a flaw they cannot hide.
In fact, full-backs are crucial to Tuchel’s approach and with James clearly not at his best and Azpilicueta unlikely to provide the same threat as Ben Chilwellthis is certainly a contributing factor to why the Blues have struggled.
As Real’s 30th midfield trio, Modric, Toni Kroos and Casemiro It’s all starting to get tiresome, Chelsea’s perseverance has produced some promising positions – Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Something must change or their Champions League aspirations will be the next victim.
