Benzema guides Madrid past Liverpool to reach Champions League quarters

Real Madrid’s French forward Karim Benzema during reacts to hurting himself celebrating his goal the UEFA Champions League last 16 second leg football match between Real Madrid CF and Liverpool FC at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on March 15, 2023. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO / AFP)

Karim Benzema struck for Real Madrid to clinch a 1-0 win over Liverpool and qualification for the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday 6-2 on aggregate.

After the wild last 16 first leg clash at Anfield in February left Madrid sitting pretty with a three-goal advantage, Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp said his side only had a one percent chance of turning the tie around.

They stemmed the bleeding at the Santiago Bernabeu but never looked like mounting a stirring comeback of the type they managed against Barcelona in 2019, or AC Milan in the 2005 final.

Madrid have now knocked Liverpool out of the Champions League in three consecutive seasons, including beating them in last year’s final.

“It was a complicated game but from the start we showed we wanted to go through, and we are in the quarter-finals,” Benzema told Movistar.

“Suffering is part of today’s football. Everyone wants more, but sometimes you have to suffer in a game — the most important thing is to win and go through.”

The 14-time record winners showed the nous to keep Liverpool at arm’s length, with defenders Eder Militao and Antonio Rudiger determined to shut out the visitors, along with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

Reigning champions Madrid could have significantly stretched their lead, save for a series of superb stops by Liverpool stopper Alisson Becker and some unusually profligate finishing.

In the first leg, Madrid were lethal, with Vinicius Junior and Benzema netting