MADRID, 13 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid won this Wednesday (2-0) in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals against English Chelsea FC at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium thanks to goals from Karim Benzema and Marco
Asensio, a victory that Carlo Ancelotti’s team cemented mainly in the midfield formed by Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Fede Valverde, or in the overflow of Vinicius Jr.
The German, the Croatian and the Uruguayan once again lived up to the great occasions and dominated the midfield at will and were far superior to Kanté, Kovacic and Enzo Fernández. The three Real Madrid players were excellent in passing, with 93 percent accuracy in the 232 passes they attempted throughout the game. In addition, they were very active in the last third of the pitch, where between the three of them they scored 91 of the 248 total that Real Madrid gave in the game against the London team.
Carlo Ancelotti’s ‘engine room’ also stood out in the defensive section. Luka Modric (11), Tony Kroos (8) and Fede Valverde (7) were the top three recoveries for Real Madrid in the match. Outstanding data that means that Chelsea is the Champions League game of the season where the most recoveries were made between the German and the Croatian (19).
On the other hand, the matches of Vinicius Jr and Karim Benzema also deserve special mention. The Brazilian was the most participatory in the white attack: he assisted Marco Asensio in the second goal, shot 3 times on goal, generated 3 scoring chances and was the player who completed the most dribbles in the match with 4. For his part, the Frenchman He continued his idyll with the goal after the World Cup and scored his 20th goal after the break, placing himself as the second scorer in this period of time only surpassed by Erling Haaland (22). The captain was also the player who shot the most in the match (5).
In defence, Real Madrid’s performance was remarkable. The Militao-Alaba couple was intractable and the two central defenders only allowed 3 shots between the three sticks of Chelsea, 0.4 expected goals from
the ‘blues’ in 90 minutes that talk about the good defensive work of the whites. Furthermore, when Thibaut Courtois had to appear, he did so with 3 saves, one of them brilliant from a very close shot from within Sterling’s area.
Finally, from the bench, Carlo Ancelotti was right. The second goal was the work of a Marco Asensio who had just entered the field and who scored his ninth goal from the bench in the competition, being the player who has scored the most times without starting in the Champions League with 9 goals.