Real Madrid had already disposed of Liverpool with the massive 5-2 win at Anfield, and the return leg at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu was nothing more than a formality. Still, Karim Benzema saw it as a perfect opportunity to add to his already-impressive tally in the UEFA Champions League.After the double in England, the Frenchman scored the only goal to seal the Reds’ fate and silence the doubters – for a few weeks at least.##NAJAVA_MECA_7099683##The 35-year-old goal machine is playing for the Royal Club, the King’s Club. However, in this Los Blancos team, he is genuine royalty. The 2022 Ballon d’Or winner, who announced his definitive retirement from the French national team, has now scored 20 goals in the last 20 UCL games. Counting out the last season’s final, Benz has hit the back of the net in Real Madrid’s last seven knockout games in the competition. That’s a total of 13 goals over the said period, with 10 of those goals coming against English teams (three each against Liverpool and Manchester City and four against Chelsea).The former Olympique Lyonnais youngster continued to torment Liverpool, the club against whom he’s now scored seven goals in the Champions League – something nobody has ever done. Benzema is approaching Robert Lewandowski, the third in the all-time goalscoring charts of the competition. The Frenchman is currently fourth in that list with 89 goals, just two fewer than Barcelona’s attacker, who has got 91 goals in 111 games – with most of those coming in the colours of FC Bayern.Karim Benzema’s last eight UCL knockout games:PSG ⚽⚽⚽Chelsea ⚽⚽⚽Chelsea ⚽Man City ⚽⚽Man City ⚽Liverpool ➖Liverpool ⚽⚽Liverpool ⚽Wow. pic.twitter.com/ICL93C2YQZ— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 15, 2023 Real Madrid will have at least two more UCL games this season, and Benzema will fancy his chances of overtaking Lewa. If you count only the knockout phase goals, Benzema is already ahead of Lewandowski with 33 strikes. Only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have ever scored more in the knockouts, 67 and 49, respectively.Real Madrid used to recover with relative ease following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018. Considering Benzema’s influence, you’d argue that replacing the Frenchman could prove a much more difficult task for Los Blancos’ president Florentino Perez and his associates.
