The French international is pleased with his side’s victory over APOEL in the Champions League but conceded that it was far from easy.
Benzema appeared beaming with joy as Real Madrid secured a satisfying victory over their opponents in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
Los Blancos travelled to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cyprus-c2881 to lock horns with APOEL at the GSP Stadium on Tuesday. To the joy of the Madrid faithful, the Whites were able to come away with a 0-3 victory over the Cypriots.
After the game, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Karim-Benzema-c20350 revealed that it was a hard fought encounter and admitted that it was not and an easy fixture for Los Merengues.
Neither of the teams were able to break the deadlock in the first half of the match as APOEL managed to put up an impressive display in their defence.
Despite dominating the proceedings of the match, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ivan-c17215 Jovanovic’s men were successful in keeping them out in the first half.
Even though the home side appeared to be resolute in defence, the home team were barely capable of creating any chances up front. On the other hand, Jose Mourinho’s men often threatened APOEL’s goal.
Mesut Ozil, Kaka and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nuri-Sahin-c28251 were more than excellent throughout the match and pioneered some great chances, both later and early on in the match.
Although it was not until the 74th minute that the first goal was scored, Madrid’s dominance over the European minnows was vivid.
Benzema scored the opener through a header after receiving a cross from Kaka.
The Brazilian, who was thoroughly enjoying the night, managed to put one past the APOEL goalkeeper in order to put his name on the score sheet in the 82nd minute.
The French striker, Benzema, then scored his second goal in the 90th minute and put the match to rest.
According to the club’s official website, the Frenchman said:
"It was a very difficult game, especially in the first half. The game improved after half-time and we earned a very important victory. We will keep it up in the return leg."
"APOEL are a very tough opponent and made things hard for us. This is an important victory, but this isn't over yet. We want to give a good performance before our fans in the return leg. I had a very good chance to score before I netted my first, but I tallied
two in the end and that's what matters. We did very well and took a major step towards winning the tie."
With Los Vikingos emerging victorious with a 3-goal lead in the first leg of the quarter-final, the fixture seems all but over. APOEL’s tremendous run in Europe seems to have come to an end as they hardly managed to do any damage to Jose Mourinho’s men.
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