Benzema and Asensio win first leg for Real Madrid against 10-man Chelsea

Todd Boehly’s belief didn’t last long. Stopped outside the restaurant where the clubs’ directors had lunch before this Champions League quarter-final first leg, Chelsea’s owner had told fans: “Have faith, we’re going to win 3-0 tonight.” A prisoner of his words as well as his deeds, within 20 minutes he had already been proven wrong, Karim Benzema’s goal giving Real Madrid the lead; by the time the clock reached 90, it wasn’t just the game that had escaped them, it might have been the tie, Marco Asensio’s second a step towards the semi-final.

Ultimately, that was not a surprise. In fact, although Chelsea had a big chance three minutes into injury time, Antonio Rüdiger diving in to deny Mason Mount, they might still be relieved that the deficit is only two – something, however small, to grasp going into the second leg, some tiny glimmer of hope not really born out by what was seen here. Madrid had racked up 18 shots, Benzema heading the last of them over an open goal, and the current European champions were ultimately too good.

At the end of a night when Vinícius Júnior relentlessly tore into Chelsea and Madrid produced a display that Carlo Ancelotti called “complete”, control applied, his team could feel disappointed that the final score was not definitive. And yet Thibaut Courtois, the continent’s best keeper, had made his statutory save, a lifeline had appeared before Chelsea right at the end and the visitors might have had the perfect start too.

Twice Frank Lampard’s team were away inside four minutes. Both times N’Golo Kanté got them running and both times it was almost astonishingly simple, but neither brought the opener. The first time, Kanté released João Félix, whose sprint began inside his own half and continued