While Messi wants to return to Barcelona, the worst news Lionel receives from Real Madrid

Real Madrid defeated Chelsea 2-0 in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals, taking a key step in the series to advance to the semifinals, where they will face Pep Guardiola's Manchester City or Thomas' Bayern Munich, already having important advantages in both keys that may end up being decisive for the second game or not.

Karim Benzema converted the first goal for the White House after a play by Vinicius Júnior where the rebound was bouncing off the French striker in the area and he did not hesitate to convert the opening score for the meringues after 21 minutes. The second was already in 74 minutes with a play prepared from a corner kick where Marco Asensio was in front of the goal to finish off and ended up making it 2-0 with a beautiful left foot.

Real Madrid proved to be one step above any top-calibre team in Europe, making it clear that despite having old players like Karim Benzema at 35, Luka Modric at 37 and Toni Kroos at 33, the experience was combined with good young players like Eduardo Camavinga or Vinicius Júnior.

And in that sense, Benzema was one of the best in the game, not only because of his goal, but because he managed the team's strings, also guiding the youngest members of the squad onto the field of play and also managing the timing of the match, knowing when to have more speed or pause. But not only that, but with this goal Karim Benzema caught up with Lionel Messi in an important record, not only in terms of the quality of play he gives Real Madrid, but also in terms of a historic statistic.

Karim Benzema at the height of Messi

With this goal against Chelsea, Karim Benzema equaled Lionel Messi with 20 goals in a one-on-one elimination match for the UEFA Champions League, that is, once the group stage was passed. Could Karim Benzema lead Real Madrid to another Champions League title?