Twitter explodes as Real Madrid sink Chelsea thanks to stunning Karim Benzema hattrick

Benzema scored his second hat-trick in two UCL games to sink the Blues

Real Madrid beat Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinals tie. French superstar Karim Benzema stole the show with his hat-trick as Kai Havertz scored a consolation goal for the Blues.

Thomas Tuchel put out a strong lineup as he brought Jorginho back into midfield with an attacking trio of Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount. Cesar Azpilicueta started at left-back, with Marcos Alonso being dropped to the bench.

Real Madrid, on the other hand, brought in Federico Valverde to replace Marco Asensio in attack. Dani Carvajal took up his regular position at right-back instead of Lucas Vazquez. Star striker Karim Benzema led the line, with a midfield of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Casemiro behind him.

The visitors started the game on fire with Karim Benzema quickly putting his side two goals to the good. The Frenchman opened the scoring in the 21st minute, latching onto Vinicius Jr's cross to head past Edouard Mendy. Three minutes later, the striker was on hand again to double Real Madrid's lead, this time heading Modric's cross past the Chelsea goalkeeper.

The Blues seemed shellshocked by Los Blancos' quickfire double, but carried on in their search for a goal. Their pressure paid off in the 40th minute when Havertz got on the end of Jorginho's cross to make it 2-1. The two sides went into half-time with Chelsea having it all to do to get back into the game.

Real Madrid talisman Benzema completes his hat-trick to sink Chelsea in the second half

The second-half started in the same fashion as the first, as Benzema took advantage of a terrible pass by Mendy to score his hat-trick and make it 3-1 to Real Madrid. Chelsea continued their search for a goal with Mount and substitute Romelu Lukaku spurning huge chances to bring Tuchel's side back into the game.

Los Blancos did well to subdue the Blues' constant pressure as Carlo Ancelotti's side won the game 3-1. They should be confident going into the second leg next week.

With that being said, here are the best Twitter reactions to Madrid's 3-1 win over Chelsea:

Another huge Champions League win for Real Madrid ✅

They are just built different on UCL nights ✨ https://t.co/rIWAhBwHjz

BIG GAME KARIM

Again and again and again and again and again and again! https://t.co/6m4x5ndAU9

BEMZEMA BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD AHHAHHHHH

Kariiiiim The Dream!!!! 😍

Nah Karim Mostafa Benzema is a master of his craft, best player in the world. He'll be remembered for a long, long time

First Vinicius with the assist, then Modric with the assist, and it all ends with the beautiful head of one man: Karim Benzema. This man just keeps on getting better and better.

BEST STRIKER IN THE WORLD. STOP THE COUNT.

If Karim Benzema scores another goal in the next 7 minutes he will have scored Champions League knockout stages hat-tricks vs both PSG and Chelsea within the space of his last 1 hour of play.

In a 3 minute span, Benzema has scored 2 of the best headers I've seen all season. Crazy player

Benzema has 5 goals in the last 52 minutes of Champions League football.

Chelsea vs. Real Madrid in one pic 📸 https://t.co/BuAZe99ITk

🚨| Karim Benzema broke his Ramadan fast just around 13 mins before kick-off and then went on to score a #UCL hat-trick vs Chelsea in 45 minutes.

Ramadan Karim just different. #UCL

Chelsea have finally found their new owner. https://t.co/qpCaQCAyC4

Kai Havertz now has 10 G/A’s in his last 12 starts for Chelsea…

𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆. https://t.co/k2csSsQk1W

Saturday: Lose 4-1 to Brentford at home

Wednesday: Down 3-1 to Real Madrid at home

Chelsea are down bad this week 🪥 https://t.co/ffCYS9ZLyD

Shout out to Kai Havertz. Easily Chelsea’s best player tonight.

Benzema against Chelsea’s back 3 https://t.co/B9tIiBAUji

I don’t know why Chelsea fans are complaining, I thought they wanted a new owner? https://t.co/fVCkJkYeYj

Karim Benzema is the first player in history to score an hattrick against Chelsea in an European competition https://t.co/gFip9sN14k

The first-time outside of the boot Benzema hattrick goal vs PSG & the two headers vs Chelsea aren’t even good chances for most strikers. He’s moved to an ethereal level of making the very difficult, look simple. It’s undefendable.

Karim Benzema’s first-half by numbers vs Chelsea:

100% long passes completed
91% pass accuracy
27 total touches
3 shots attempted
2 shots on target
2 goals

Benz giving us another classic. 🥶 https://t.co/RUUjAQXvzq

Chelsea Fans. How are you feeling? Stay Strong. Love you all 😁💙