Champions League title holders Chelsea are on the verge of elimination after suffering a thumping at home by Real Madrid.
A hat-trick by veteran French striker Karim Benzema earned the 13-times European champions an emphatic 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge in their quarter-final first leg on Thursday AEST.
The Spaniards were seeking revenge after the Londoners eliminated them in last season’s semi-finals before the Blues won the trophy in Porto.
Benzema, 34, scored two headed goals in the space of three first-half minutes and then pounced on an error by Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy just after halftime to put the visitors in control of the tie before Tuesday’s second leg at Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.
But Chelsea’s chances of a comeback were undone by Mendy’s mistake in the 46th minute when, outside his box, he tried to pass to Antonio Rudiger only for Benzema to intercept and steer the ball into an empty net for his 37th goal of the season.
“It is a heavy loss. It was one of the worst first halves that I saw from us here at Stamford Bridge,” said angry Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel.
” Individually and as a team it was by far not enough. It was far from our standards and then you lose games.
“Passing, where we passed, how we passed when we passed, when we attacked, the ball possession game… first half was so from any standards that we set ourselves that we cannot complain when we lose.
“We had 16 shots in the second half. You can always come back and win it but when you kill the game by yourself after 45 minutes it is harder and harder.
“We have to go Southampton and it is very important to process this. It is crucial that we go to Southampton. If we keep playing like this we will lose at Southampton and then we will get hammered at Bernabeu.”
There was more joy for Spain as Europa League winners Villarreal beat Bayern Munich 1-0 thanks to Arnaut Danjuma’s early strike in their next upset bid following a last-16 elimination of Juventus.
An electrifying Villarreal beat six-times winners Bayern Munich 1-0 at Estadio de la Ceramica in their quarter-final first leg.
Forward Arnaut Danjuma’s eighth-minute strike gave Unai Emery’s side a slender lead for the second leg at the Allianz Arena in Munich next week.
Villarreal took the game to the Germans and should have won by a wider margin as they had another effort ruled out for offside before striking a post through Gerard Moreno.
The Europa League holders suffocated Julian Nagelsmann’s team when they tried to attack, while proving a constant menace to goalkeeper Manuel Neuer on the counter.
Meanwhile, Everton’s status as an ever-present in the Premier League is under serious threat.
Frank Lampard’s team tumbled to within a point of the relegation zone after conceding in the 85th minute to lose 3-2 at Burnley in a wild, end-to-end match on Thursday.
Everton, who recently announced losses of more than 100 million pounds ($130 million) for the third straight year, have nine games to save their season but are facing an extremely difficult run-in.
They’re next four opponents are Manchester United, Leicester, Liverpool and Chelsea.
“They have to keep going,” Toffees manager Lampard said of his players.
“If we didn’t know we were in a fight before, we certainly do now.”
Burnley hadn’t scored in their last four games — and had netted only eight times in the past four months — but still managed to breach Everton’s flaky defence three times and move above Watford into 18th place, within striking distance of 17th-place Everton.
Maxwel Cornet grabbed the winner for Burnley, sweeping home a finish from substitute Matej Vydra’s low cross to give the home fans something to cheer after a miserable few months for Sean Dyche’s side.
Two penalties before halftime by Brazil forward Richarlison helped Everton recover from conceding a 12th-minute opener to Nathan Collins, who was left unmarked at the back post at a corner.
Jay Rodriguez made it 2-2 in the 57th before Cornet’s late intervention, which potentially leaves Lampard fighting for his job even though he only took over as Everton’s manager at the start of February — after owner Farhad Moshiri fired Rafa Benitez.
It was a sixth straight away defeat in the league for financially stricken club from Merseyside, who have played in England’s top division every season since 1954.
“It doesn’t matter who we play,” Lampard said.
“One of our best performances was against Manchester City. I wouldn’t look at the fixture list. It’s about what we do.”
© AAP
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