Ben Chilwell sees red as Real Madrid coast to first-leg victory over Chelsea

Chelsea had Ben Chilwell sent off as they fell to a 2-0 defeat to holders Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

The visitors were already a goal down in the Bernabeu when Chilwell was red carded for a foul on Real forward Rodrygo just before the hour, after Karim Benzema had scored his 89th goal in the competition to give his team a half-time lead.

At that stage, Chelsea looked happy to escape with a one-goal deficit ahead of the second leg on Tuesday, but Real doubled the size of their task when Marco Asensio fired in a second 16 minutes from the end.

Interim boss Frank Lampard acknowledged before the game that Real were favourites and his words were borne out ruthlessly by Carlo Ancelotti’s side, who inflicted as emphatic a two-goal defeat as Chelsea have suffered in this competition.

They nearly took an early lead when Joao Felix, slipped in by Enzo Fernandez, sprinted away from Eder Militao and, holding off the defender’s efforts to recover, hit his shot low and true but too close to Thibaut Courtois who turned it behind.

Chelsea had begun brightly but soon Real found their flow. Their first chance came when a pattern of short, clever passing around the penalty spot allowed Rodrygo to release Benzema into a channel down the left. His shot to the near post was clutched by Kepa Arrizabalaga.

King Karim strikes again!!