Champions League: Benzema hat trick sinks Chelsea as Villarreal pick slim win over Bayern

Champions League: Benzema hat trick sinks Chelsea as Villarreal pick slim win over Bayer

Chelsea's hope of successfully defending the Champions League trophy won last season is now under a big threat.

The Blues were beaten 3-1 Wednesday night in their quarter-final first-leg at Stamford Bridge with Karim Benzema scoring all three goals against Thomas Tuchel's men

Chelsea must now overturn the two-goal deficit at Real Madrid to salvage their Champions League defence .

Benzema dispatched two lovely headers in three first-half minutes at a rain-drenched Stamford Bridge as Madrid set about avenging last season's semi-final defeat to the Londoners.

Kai Havertz grabbed a lifeline for Chelsea before half-time when he halved Madrid's lead with a well taken effort

However, hopes of a resurgence for Chelsea in the second half was watered down when 46 seconds after the restart  Benzema benefitted from slack defending to complete his hat-trick.

Substitute Romelu Lukaku fluffed two chances to reduce arrears as Chelsea's comeback efforts were all futile on a night when everything just failed to work for the Blues.

Having initially been praised for their watertight defence, Chelsea are falling apart lately; conceding seven goals in just two games with virtually all coming from open game.

Many remain optimistic that though the Blues' Champions League defence is hanging in the balance ahead of next week's return at the Bernabeu, it is not over untill it is indeed over.
 
In the day's other first-leg quarter final clash, Villarreal edged by a lone goal.

Dajuma scored the solitary goal in the second half