GOAL MACHINE BENZEMA IS THE MODEL STRIKER

REAL MADRID midfielder Casemiro believes Karim Benzema is a “historic” player for the club and that the Frenchman is better than ever. That is worrying news for Chelsea tonight after the four-time Champions League winner scored a brilliant hat-trick in the first leg of their quarter-final at Stamford Bridge last week, to give Real a 3-1 lead going into tonight’s return. Benzema, 34, has scored a phenomenal 316 goals for Real in 596 games, and this season alone has 37 in 37.

Real manager Carlo Ancelotti admitted before tonight’s clash that his team are dependent on Benzema, who also scored a hat-trick to stun Paris SaintGermain in the last 16, but he is quite happy about it. Casemiro said: “Karim is part of the history of Real Madrid. We are honoured to be his team-mates. He has been playing at the top of his game for a very long time.

“He is an amazing player, truly a historic player for this team. Perhaps right now he is the most important that we have.

“Karim has made a lot of progress lately, great strides forwards.

“He has been scoring more goals than ever. People only see the goals but we are together all the time and we are always impressed by how good he is.”

Former Chelsea boss Ancelotti said: “In the old days strikers would just hang around the box and tap the ball in. Now they have to do more. They have to defend, they have to fight. For me, Karim is the model modern striker. “To say that we have a dependence on Benzema is the truth. We must not hide it. I am very happy to be dependent on him. It’s not a bad thing.”