Real Madrid got the better of yet another special night in the UEFA Titleholders League as it survived a brilliant comeback from Chelsea in a thrilling quarterfinal at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on Tuesday.
It was Karim Benzema yet again who made the difference, with the Frenchman scoring inextra-time to secure Madrid's place in the semifinals after losing 3-2 on the night but winning 5-4 on total.
Madrid had taken a 3-1 advantage into the alternate leg after Benzema scored a chapeau- trick at Stamford Bridge last week, but the tie was turned on its head after Chelsea fought back to lead 3-0 on the night.
Pretensions from Mason Mount, Antonio Rudiger and Timo Werner had looked to give the reigning European champion another iconic palm in the competition, but Madrid smelled back with just 10 twinkles remaining to forceextra-time.
Madrid's first thing was simply a work of art, orchestrated by the brilliant Luka Modrić. The midfielder executed a perfect pass with the outside of his charge, allowing Rodrygo to volley home from close range.
Neutral Suckers ate another 30 twinkles of chaotic football, and it was Madrid who plant the decisive thing inextra-time, with Benzema heading home a brilliant cross from ViníciusJr.
"The further I suffer, the happier I am,"Madrid trainer Carlo Ancelotti told journalists after the game."It was a lot of suffering, however.
"We won because we had the energy to keep the match alive. The players were stalwart and faced it like soldiers,"he added.
+ There are no regrets
After looking lackluster in the first- leg, Chelsea was much bettered for its trip to Spain and came so close to a memorable palm.
The three pretensions had temporarily silenced the home support and Madrid was floundering to lay a glove on the Premier League outfit.
In verity, Chelsea had chances throughout the game to finish off the tie and indeed had a thing disallowed by the videotape adjunct adjudicator (VAR) after Marcos Alonso was ruled to have handled the ball before lashing his trouble into the top corner of the net.
Indeed inextra-time, with Madrid hanging on, Chelsea went near a number of times but failed to find the all important thing that would have seen it force a penalty shootout.
Specially, Kai Havertz-- who was exceptional in the alternate leg-- should have done better with a free title inside the box which he steered wide.
Director Thomas Tuchel, who was constantly stalking the touchline and crying at his players during the match, said he was proud of the platoon despite being knocked out.
"We went to the full limit moment. I am veritably proud of my players and I suppose we merited to qualify but luck wasn't on our side," said Tuchel, who was shown a unheroic card for his passionate demurrers toward the adjudicator in the ending stages.
"There are no regrets. These are the kinds of defeats you can take with pride as a sportswoman. The demand at Chelsea is veritably high and the players responded in a way that makes all of us proud."
Eventually, it was 13- time European champion Real Madrid who formerly again plant a way to win and will now face either Manchester City or Atlético Madrid in the final four.
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