UCL: How Chelsea security almost stopped Benzema hat trick  

Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema is probably still haunting the dreams of Chelsea supporters and players alike, but things could have been very different in West London last week if the player hadn't been allowed into the ground. 

It sounds preposterous, but the French striker was stopped outside as he wasn't carrying the proper accreditation when he stepped down from the team bus ahead of the Champions League quarter-final first leg.

Los Blancos took a commanding lead in the quarter-final tie with a 3-1 victory in which Benzema scored a hat-trick, his second in consecutive Champions League games, and it's fair to say the Spanish side aren't the same without their talisman. 

It was just as well for Carlo Ancelotti's team that, after some frantic searching, he was able to find his pass and enter Stamford Bridge.

Benzema has since shared a video of the incident on his Instagram account and his coach even spoke about it.

"Before the game, Benzema was not able to find his pass to enter into the stadium, so I told him 'be fast or you can't play!' and then, luckily, Karim found the pass," Ancelotti told Amazon Prime.

"Karim Benzema is getting better every day; just like a fine wine. He's more of a leader every day, he feels more and more important in this team and this squad. And I think that's what makes the difference.

"He has so much more personality, he knows he's a very important player for us and he's an example for everyone."

Since the 1-0 defeat in Paris, Benzema has missed just one game for Real Madrid - the 4-0 Clasico defeat against Barcelona.

Los Merengues have won the eight other games in that period, with Benzema starting in all of them and scoring 13 goals.