The victory vs City and the ticket for the Final made Madridistas’ week so beautiful and it is always certain that huge victories like this are followed by individual successes. It is Karim Benzema who continues to add to his legendary status in the European Cup and his goal at the Bernabéu against Manchester City moved him level with Lewandowski's tally of 86 goals. The madridista equals the Polish marksman as the third-highest goal scorer in European Cup history. Ahead of them on the list sit Cristiano Ronaldo (141) and Messi (125).
The Frenchman has recorded his best personal tally this season, with 15 goals. Five came in the Group Stage, while the remaining ten have arrived in an incredible knock-out phase run which has seen him score in five successive games against PSG, Chelsea and Manchester City. With 10 goals in the knockout stage he equals Cristiano Ronaldo’s record for the most goals scored in knockout phase in a single season.
Historic feat: Benzema has found the back of the net in the Champions League for 17 consecutive seasons. His first came back in 2005/06 against Rosenborg while playing for Olympique Lyon, where he scored a total of 12 times. The other 74 goals have come in a Real Madrid jersey. He opened his European account for our team with a strike against Milan on 3 November 2009. His favourite opposition in the competition are Galatasaray, PSG and Chelsea, hitting five goals against all of them.
On the other hand it was Vini Jr. who clinched a great and well deserved achievement. Vini’s goal against Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final was chosen as the best goal of the semis round by users of uefa.com. The Brazilian’s goal edged out his teammate Rodrygo, Coquelin (Villarreal) and Bernardo Silva (Manchester City) in the voting.
Vini Jr. netted Real Madrid’s second of the clash at the Etihad Stadium after going on a sensational run. The forward picked up the ball inside his own half before dummying to let the ball go through Fernandinho’s legs and then sprinted for 50 metres to close in on Ederson’s goal, before slotting past the keeper as the defenders did not arrived in time and failed to intervene and block his shot.
Finally, it was Thibaut Courtois who was awarded the Man of the Match, was also named Champions League Player of the Week by voters on uefa.com. The Real Madrid goalkeeper, who picked up the Man of the Match award in the semi-final return leg against Manchester City, received more votes than Luis Díaz (Liverpool), Coquelin (Villarreal) and Bernardo Silva (Manchester City).
The Belgian wall saved his team as Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva were the most dangerous players of Manchester City and went past the White defence in several cases. The only time he couldn’t do anything was when Riyad Mahrez scored with a first-time shot to left everyone speechless. No responsibility for Courtois in this case however. Madrid’s keeper was perfect during the whole match!
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