Arms outstretched and face up to the sky, Karim Benzema pursues his dream. Nothing and no one stops Real Madrid. Once again, as in the 8th round against PSG, as in the quarter against Chelsea, Carlo Ancelotti’s team overturned a very badly started confrontation.
A look at the scoreboard allows you to understand the new crazy evening experienced by the Bernabeu stadium on Wednesday. While a nice goal from Ryad Mahrez scored in the 73rd seemed to validate the Citizens’ ticket for the Stade de France, an incredible avalanche was going to fall on Pep Guardiola.
In two minutes in stoppage time, Rodrygo offered an extension to the Merengue. The Madrid stadium was transformed into a volcano and Benzema, the unalterable band leader, was going to provoke and then transform the qualifying penalty.
Boosted like never before, the people of Madrid would then master against English knockout standing, who have not finished thinking about this opportunity from Grealish, saved on his line by Ferland Mendy (87th). The action seemed innocuous when City were leading 1-0, it is in fact the turning point of a new magical, irrational match… Something inexplicable is definitely happening at the Bernabeu.
“We feel that the whole club is behind you, rejoices Carlo Ancelotti, for whom this will be the 5th subsidiary as coach. The players feel the weight of this shirt and the history. It is the biggest club in the world. We deserved to play in the final, we’ll see what happens there. »
Ancelotti knows his team can turn everything around. The Merengues swept over the Citizens with a hurricane of the same intensity as that suffered by the Parisians in the round of 16 (0-1, 3-1), with Benzema’s hat-trick in 15 minutes, bringing the score to 0- 1 on the hour mark to 3-1 in the end. In the quarter, Chelsea (3-1, 2-3 ap) was also overwhelmed, leading 3-0 in the 80th, before conceding 3-2 in overtime synonymous with elimination for the outgoing.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team, crowned champion of Spain for the 35th time last weekend, still cherishes the dream of a 14th Champions League. It will be against Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool in the final at the Stade de France on May 28, in a remake of the 2018 edition (3-1 in favor of Real), the last of the series of three signed Zinédine Zidane at the helm of Real . And for Karim Benzema, 15 goals including 10 since the 1/8th, the hope of a Ballon d’Or is closer than ever.
“It’s incredible, we even believe in it at 0-1 in the 89th, summarizes Thibaut Courtois at the microphone of Canal +. Until the 89th we are not really well. Suddenly they got scared and we did it. After the 1-1, there was fear (in Manchester), when we put the 3-1 against Paris, it was a bit the same thing. I hope we can win now, there is a great team in front but we have already done it three times and I hope we can do it a fourth. »