Benzema’s third goal a fluke? You’ve never watched him before, have you?

Don’t worry, Edouard Mendy. You weren’t the first. You won’t be the last. This is just what Karim Benzema – the best footballer in the world right now – does. 

Just ask Loris Karius. Or Sven Ulreich. Or better yet, Gianluigi Donnarumma. Benzema’s shark-like attacking instincts are probably still keeping the PSG keeper up at night a month later.

There was almost an air of disappointment that the Real Madrid striker capped off his hat-trick against Chelsea in a comparatively scruffy fashion.

It was anticlimactic. Here we were witnessing the Ballon d’Or frontrunner living up to his billing as the best currently around producing what looked to be an individual European display for the ages.

Everybody knows how good Benzema is. He literally scored a hat-trick in his last Champions League appearance. No player in Europe has more goals and assists this season.

Think Ronaldo Nazario at Old Trafford. Or Lionel Messi on countless occasions. The best around stepping up and showing you how and why. You are witnessing greatness and there’s nothing you can do but sit back and watch.

Yet still, there was that slight nagging feeling that the goal to make it 3-1, just after half-time, was too cheap for a footballer that’s currently ascending to another realm. Too easy. Crucial goals in Champions League knock-out ties shouldn’t be quite so… elementary, should they?

It’s difficult to argue that King Karim’s third goal at Stamford Bridge quite matched the artistry of his first two – both perfectly-guided headers, the second of which was especially magnificent.

But it no less encapsulated exactly what makes the France international so dangerous. His headers demonstrated his lethal finishing. His third showed his killer instincts.

Hat-trick