Champions League: Karim Benzema scores historic Real Madrid brace
Veteran forward Karim Benzema scored a brace as Real Madrid gained significant advantage in terms of securing their qualification from Group D in the UEFA Champions League. It was a historic night for Real Madrid, who became the first team to reach 1,000 goals scored in the competition (including qualifiers). Here are the key feats achieved by Benzema.
Real beat Shakhtar 2-1
Real Madrid beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 to get to nine points from four games (W3 L1). Benzema tapped in the opening goal in the 14th minute. Alan Patrick helped Shakhtar get the equalizing goal before half-time, assisting Dos Santos Pedro in the 39th minute. Benzema got the crucial second goal for Real after some good work from Vinicius Junior and Casemiro.
Clinical Benzema achieves these feats
Benzema has now scored 11 goals in his last 11 Champions League home games, failing to score only in one of his last seven (vs Liverpool in April). As per Opta, Benzema is the oldest Real player (33y 319d) to score more than once in a European Cup/Champions League game since Ferenc Puskas against Feyenoord in September 1965 (38y 173d), who scored four times.
Benzema races to 14 goals in the 2021-22 season
Benzema became the third player from Europe's top five leagues to have been directly involved in 20+ goals so far this season after Robert Lewandowski and Mohamed Salah. Benzema has scored 13 goals in 14 matches for Real in all competitions this season. He has scored four Champions League goals this season.
Benzema scripts this UCL history
Benzema has become the fourth player in Champions League history to score 75-plus goals in the competition. Cristiano Ronaldo (139), Lionel Messi (123), and Robert Lewandowski (81) are the other three players. Benzema now has 63 UCL goals for Real.
