Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema sets new Champions League record
Karim Benzema was Real Madrid’s hat-trick hero for the second consecutive Champions League game when he won Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge.
After scoring three goals in 17 minutes in the previous round to knock Paris Saint-Germain out of the tournament, his three goals against Chelsea also came within half an hour of each other.
Benzema scored two brilliant headers in the 21 and 24 minutes to give Real a 2-0 lead. Chelsea pulled one back through Kai Havertz, but Benzema struck again early in the second half after errors by Edouard Mendy and Antonio Rudiger.
His back-to-back hat-tricks took Benzema to 11 goals in the Champions League this season.
That number, which was built up in just nine games, set a new record. No French player had previously hit double figures in a Champions League season.
Benzema’s 11 goals in one season are also better than the previous record for a Frenchman, set by Just Fontaine in the 1958/59 season, before the European Cup was renamed.
Most goals in a European Cup season by a French player
1. Karim Benzema – 11 (2021/22)
2. Just Fontaine – 10 (1958/59)
Karim Benzema pictured after completing his hat-trick for Real Madrid against Chelsea in April 2022
IMAGO/Sportimage/David Klein
While Benzema’s 11 goals set a new French record, Cristiano Ronaldo is the overall Champions League record for most goals in a season.
Ronaldo scored 16 goals in the 2015/16 season, one more than Robert Lewandowski scored in the 2019/20 season.
Most goals in Champions League season
1. Cristiano Ronaldo – 16 (2015/16)
2. Robert Lewandowski – 15 (2019/20)
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