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Karim Benzema stole the headlines during Chelsea’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid. The French forward netted two stunning headers during the first-half of the quarter-final meeting, before securing the matchball shortly after the break as he took advantage of a rare Edouard Mendy error.

Away from the goals, his display was a stunning virtuoso performance befitting of a player who has established himself at the top-end of European football throughout the majority of his career. His treble against the Blues took the French icon onto 316 goals for Real Madrid since his arrival from Lyon, with 81 of those strikes coming in the Champions League alone. Whilst the French forward has firmly written his name into European folklore - and looks likely to continue to do so - the same cannot quite be said of Arsenal.

The Gunners have not played in the Champions League since 2017 and the 2021/22 campaign saw them miss out on European football in any capacity. Mikel Arteta currently has Arsenal battling to return to Europe’s top table but they might have actually sealed - or indeed retained their position - had they