UEFA Champions League: Chelsea, Madrid Both Win Away

The Cypriot fairy tale came to a screeching halt in the second half of their first-ever UEFA Champions League quarterfinal as the favourites snuck three goals past Dionisis Chiotis in final 20 minutes of the game, giving Madrid an almost insurmountable 3-0 lead.

It was Benzema who scored first, making up for his earlier miss by glancing home a delightful cross from Kaká in the 74th minute, and after that the floodgates were open. Kaká made it two after excellent work by Marcelo as Real piled on the pressure, and Benzema capped off the night with a last-minute goal to make it 3-0. Madrid, barring a miracle of ridiculous proportions, are in the semifinals.

Benfica brought in attacking winger Nolito for defensive midfielder Javi García in the 81st minute in an attempt to push for an equalizer, but they were unable to find a goal. They will now be significant underdogs in the second leg at Stamford Bridge, and Chelsea appear to be all but through to the semifinals of Champions League.

For more on the Blues, head over to Chelsea blog We Ain’t Got No History.

Benfica have done well to get the ball into their big target man Oscar Cardozo, but he hasn’t been able to finish or create chances for his teammates. He had Benfica’s best chance in the 19th minute when he took a through ball off his chest and set himself up for a volley, but hit a bad shot wide of the near post.

The half ended with a silly foul by Solomon Kalou on Bruno Cesar that gave Benfica a free kick on the edge of the penalty area. The ensuing delivery on the free kick was terrible. It was a very nice summary of the half.

APOEL Nicosia starting lineup (4-4-1-1): Dionosis Chiotis; William Boaventura, Paulo Jorge, Marcelo Oliveira, Savvas Poursaitidis; Nektarious Alexandrou, Helio Pinto, Nuno Morais, Costas Charalambides; Ivan Trickovski; Ailton.

Substitutes from: Urko Pardo, Helder Sousa, Kaka, Aldo Adorno, Athos Soloumou, Marcinho, Esteban Solari.

Benfica starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Artur; Emerson, Jardel, Luisao, Maxi Pereira; Javi Garcia, Axel Witsel; Nicolas Gaitan, Pablo Aimar, Bruno Cesar, Oscar Cardozo.

Substitutes from: Eduardo, Miguel Vitor, Nemanja Matic, Nolito, Javier Saviola, Rodrigo, Nelson Oliveira.