Benzema promises something special at the Bernebeu

KARIM BENZEMA has warned Manchester City that Real Madrid “will do something magical” in the second leg of their Champions League semifinal at the Bernabeu next week.

City will take a 4-3 lead to Madrid after a thrilling first leg at the Etihad yesterday but their advantage could have been much bigger had it not been for Benzema’s double.

The Real Madrid captain pulled one back after City made a lightning start, with Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus scoring inside 11 minutes, before his late Panenka penalty again reduced City’s twogoal lead following Bernardo Silva’s strike.

It keeps the tie in the balance and Benzema, who now has scored nine goals in five Champions League knockout games this season, has backed his team to pull off another comeback after hanging in the tie.

Real Madrid have made home advantage count on their Champions League journey so far, after they fought from two goals down to defeat Paris SaintGermain in the round of 16 as Benzema scored a hattrick, and then salvaged their quarterfinal against Chelsea thanks to Benzema’s winner in extra-time.

“A defeat is never good,” Benzema told Movistar after the first leg. “The most important thing is we never gave up until the end.

“Now we have to go to the Bernabeu. We’ll need the fans like never before. We’ll do something magical, which is to win.”

Benzema’s stunning penalty came after Benzema had missed two penalties in his last game, with Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti saying Benzema had to change his technique in order to score.

“If you never take a penalty, you’ll never miss a penalty,” Benzema said. “I have a lot of selfconfidence.”

Ancelotti believes Madrid will reach the Champions League final if they defend better than they did but warned that any repeat of their problems at the back at the Etihad Stadium will end their quest for a 14th European Cup.

Ancelotti felt Real remained “alive” in the semifinal after a show of spirit that mean that, even though they trailed 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2, their eventual deficit is only one goal.

“We are going to fight for another magical night,” Ancelotti pledged. “In the second game I think if we defend better we will win but if we defend like today we will be out of the competition.

“It is quite simple to define this game: we did well with the ball, without the ball we need to be much better. In an end-to-end game you need to defend better and that is really important.”

Ancelotti praised his team for showing the character to respond after going two goals down.

“My feeling is that we started really poorly in the game, we were too soft, we let in two goals and from there the team showed what they have showed in the last periods. We reacted really well. It is a defeat that leaves us alive in the second leg.”

Ancelotti praised Benzema for having the confidence to score with a Panenka penalty.

The Frenchman took his tally to 41 goals for the season with a brace and Ancelotti said he never considered taking him off the penalties.

“Karim had a fantastic game but he always does. He has had the personality to take the penalty in that way,” Ancelotti said.

“It was a spectacular penalty to take in that manner. It is not easy in the semifinal of the Champions League to do a penalty like this.

“Definitely we never thought about changing the player that took the penalty. We knew he would take it.

“We trained a bit during this week. We didn’t know if he would take with his left or his right. The way he took it surprised me a bit.” – The

Independent