At the Etihad Stadium, Benzema once again saved Real Madrid in a milestone battle. After breaking through the Manchester City goal, Benzema tied for the top spot in the Champions League top scorers list with Levan, which also copied Ronaldo's miracle.
For Benzema, it was a very landmark race. This is Benzema's 600th appearance for Real Madrid, and he became the eighth player in history to reach this milestone and the first non-Spanish player in history to do so.
In such a landmark battle, Benzema clearly wanted to score and win. The French striker is in excellent form, having scored seven goals in his previous three Champions League games, including four against Chelsea over two legs.
Not only that, but in his last 11 appearances for Real Madrid, Benzema has scored 15 goals, including the winning goal scored in the 92nd minute of the match against Sevilla. However, against Osasuna, Benzema conceded two penalties.
After hat-tricks against Paris and Chelsea, Benzema has scored 12 goals in the Champions League this season, second only to Levan, who scored 13 goals, in the Champions League top scorer list. Surprisingly, Benzema was only expected to score 6.46 goals, but he scored 12 goals.
Obviously, how to keep an eye on Benzema has become the key to whether Manchester City can qualify. Guardiola said, "We have to do a good job of defending. Benzema scored a lot of goals against Chelsea and has been a very good player throughout his career. ”
De Bruyne's pass and shot in the first 11 minutes gave City an early two-goal lead. In an extremely passive situation, Benzema stepped forward at a critical moment, and after receiving Mendy's diagonal pass, Benzema swept a left-footed shot, and the ball hit the goalpost and bounced into the net.
In the four Champions League knockout matches against Paris, Chelsea and Manchester City, Benzer Madrid scored and scored a total of eight goals. Scoring eight goals in the Champions League knockout rounds this season, Benzema became the first player to do so since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2016-17.
At the same time, this is also benzema's 40th goal this season, and in real madrid history, only Di Stéfano, Puskas, Sanchez (2 times) and Cristiano Ronaldo (8 times) have scored at least 40 goals in a single season.
It was Benzema's 13th goal in the Champions League this season, and he was able to tie with Levan to top the Champions League top scorers list. Benzema also became the second top five league player after Levan to score at least 40 goals. In the Champions League against England, Benzema has scored 14 goals, second only to Messi, who scored 27 goals.
The data shows that when Benzema got a starting opportunity, the expected goal was only 0.04. However, with such a low probability of scoring, Benzema scored easily. After Successive missed opportunities by Mahrez and Foden, Benzema punished Manchester City.
Why has Benzema been in such good form this season? Legendary goalscorer Shearer commented, "He has a strong sense of confidence that makes him one of the top players and he feels like he's the best player. ”