Karim Benzema’s hat-trick sends Real Madrid to UCL quarter-finals

French striker Karim Benzema scored a fantastic second-half hat-trick within 19 minutes to see Real Madrid Past Paris Saint-Germain in their UEFA Champions League round of 16-second leg tie at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday evening.

Real Madrid lost the first leg of the game 1-0 in Paris as Kylian Mbappe scored the only goal just before full-time a fortnight ago.

This time around in the second leg, the visitors from France dominated the first half but were denied two goals tonight by the VAR, but Kyllian Mbappe, who is poised to make a transfer switch to the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer, opened the scoring for PSG in the 39th minute of the first half to give them a 2-0 aggregate lead

However, Karim Benzema started Real Madrid come back with the first of his goals coming in the 61st minute of the second half, he got his second in the 71st minute and completed his hat-trick in the 78th minute to make a remarkable 3-1 victory for the La Liga side on tonight and a 3-2 aggregate scoreline in the tie.

The result knocked Paris Saint-Germain out of the competition while Real Madrid joins Bayern Munich and Liverpool as well as Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the competition.

There is still four quarter-final slot still to be confirmed for the round of 16-second leg ties coming up next week. In those games, Chelsea will travel to France to face Lille. The Blues take a 2-0 advantage into the second leg slated for Wednesday, 16 March.

On the same day, Juventus will host Villarreal in Turin with a 1-1 scoreline from the first leg. However, before then, Ajax and Benefica will face each other on Tuesday 15 March while on the same evening, Manchester United will welcome Atletico Madrid to the Old Trafford.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu