Champions League: Benzema strikes Chelsea down again as Milan get slim win over Napoli
Karim Benzema likes scoring against Chelsea and he did it again on Wednesday; leading Real Madrid to a 2-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.
Substitute Marco Asensio also scored for Madrid after Benzema had netted his sixth goal in five matches against the English club in the latest meeting between the last two European champions.
Chelsea played the final half-hour with 10 men after Ben Chilwell was sent off for stopping a Madrid breakaway.
It was a second consecutive defeat for new Blues interim boss Frank Lampard after he replaced Graham Potter amid the team's disappointing results.
In Wednesday night's other match, AC Milan beat Napoli for the second time in less than two weeks -- and this time with more at stake -- as the Rossoneri won 1-0.
Ismael Bennacer scored shortly before the end of a first half that Napoli had dominated for long stretches.
Both teams also hit the crossbar before the visitor's midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa was sent off 16 minutes from time.
In Spain, Madrid striker Benzema opened the scoring by hitting the open net after Kepa Arrizabalaga saved an attempt by Vinicius Junior from close range in the 22nd minute at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
The French veteran has scored 20 goals in 27 matches against English opposition and his last 14 goals in the competition have come in the knockout stage.
Asencio netted the second in the 74th.
It is the third consecutive time the two have met in the Champions League, with Madrid prevailing at this same stage last season and Chelsea advancing in the semis in the previous year.
In Italy, Milan routed Napoli 4-0 when the two teams met in Serie A on April 2. But Napoli have a 16-point lead at the top of the standings.
It was Napoli's first ever appearance in the quarter-finals and they were missing leading goalscorer Victor Osimhen and Giovanni Simeone through injury at the San Siro.
Nevertheless, the visitors got off to an aggressive start and had four clearcut opportunities in as many minutes.
The best of those was after only 50 seconds but Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's shot was cleared off the line and Mario Rui ballooned the follow-up over.
The hosts broke the deadlock five minutes from halftime as Brahim Diaz sped forward from midfield and laid the ball off to Rafael Leao. His attempt at a one-two didn't quite come off but it came through to Bennacer to fire into the top corner.
Napoli's chances of getting back into the match diminished when Anguissa was shown a second yellow card for a high tackle on Theo Hernandez four minutes after being booked for a foul on the same Milan defender.
