Real Madrid, the Spanish champions, put the defending champion ahead in the semi-finals of the European Champions League in football, by defeating its incomplete guest, Chelsea, England, 2-0, on Wednesday, in the first leg of the quarter-finals, while Milan settled the pure Italian confrontation with Napoli by leading it 1-0.

In the first match at its stadium, "Santiago Bernabeu", Real Madrid owes the victory that will make it play the second leg on the 18th of this month at the "Stamford Bridge" stadium in London comfortably, to the trio of French striker Karim Benzema and substitute Marco Asensio, who scored the goals of the match in the 22nd and 74th minutes. And the Brazilian Vinicius Junior, who has two assists.
"It was one of our best matches this season, but we have the second leg and we have to keep calm and come out as strong as we did today," Vinicius told Movistar.

"We had a lot of space and always wanted to score more goals, but we played against a great team. We know it's difficult to play away from home, that's why we wanted to score more".

And Chelsea complicated his task in front of the 14-time champion of the competition, after he was forced to play the last half hour with ten players, after defender Ben Chilwell was sent off with a red card after a mistake he committed at the edge of the area on the Brazilian Rodrigo.

Chelsea was playing its second match under the supervision of its old-new coach and legend when he was a player in his ranks, Frank Lampard, after losing the first against Wolverhampton 0-1 in the local league.

Chelsea once again suffered from offensive sterility, as it failed to score the net for the fourth match in a row, which is what happened to it for the first time since December 1993.

The two teams met in the knockout rounds for the third consecutive season, as the London team won the semi-finals of the 2020-2021 season on its way to winning the title, while Real won the quarter-finals of the 2021-2022 season also on its way to winning the cup.

Real started the match pressing, but Chelsea was the most dangerous two minutes after the starting whistle, relying on counter-attacks, including a ball started by Frenchman N'Golo Kante and passed to Portuguese striker Joao Felix, who entered the area and hit a crawl that was blocked by Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

The host team responded with a joint game on the left side of the area between Vinicius and Benzema, who got rid of Brazilian Thiago Silva and hit with his left foot a ball that was blocked by goalkeeper Kepa Arisabalaga (12), but the latter failed in another attempt after a pass in the back of the defense from 25 meters from Dani Carvajal to the Brazilian inside. The area hit it directly with his left foot, the Spaniard blocked it, and Benzema followed it into the empty goal (22).

It is Benzema's fourth goal in 7 matches this season and the 90th in his career in the main continental competition.

The Frenchman also scored his 20th goal in 27 matches against English clubs, and the sixth in 5 matches against Chelsea.

Chelsea almost equalized after a minute, after a pass from the right side from James inside the area, which was followed by Raheem Sterling, who started from behind, with a powerful shot that Courtois blocked.

Kepa kept his team in the atmosphere of the match by blocking a shot from Rodrigo (34), another from Benzema from 20 meters (36), and a third from Uruguayan Federico Valverde (44).

Real started the second half and finished the first after a wonderful individual effort from Vinicius on the left side to enter the penalty area and pass a ball to Benzema, who in turn turned it to Croatian Luka Modric outside the area, so the latter curled a ball that passed centimeters over the crossbar (51).

Lampard made an emergency change after Senegalese defender Khalido Coulibaly was injured, so Spaniard Marc Cocoria replaced him (55), before he was sent off after 4 minutes by Chilwell after a mistake he committed at the edge of the area on Rodrigo, so that the referee awarded a free kick that Austrian David Alaba hit and the goalkeeper picked it up.
Felix and Sterling left and German Kai Havertz and Trevo Chaluba entered instead (65), and Ancelotti responded by taking out French Eduardo Camavinga and Rodrigo and introducing German Antonio Rudiger and Asensio (71), so the latter scored the second goal with a shot from the edge of the area after a new assist from Vinicius (74).

Benzema missed a header in front of the goal (90 + 2), and Rudiger saved his team by saving a shot (90 + 4).

And at the San Siro stadium, Algerian international Ismail Ben Nasser scored the only goal for his Milan team, against his compatriot Napoli, to lead him to victory.

Bennacer's goal came in the 40th minute.

Napoli, who reached the quarter-finals of the continental competition for the first time in its history, played the match in the absence of its Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, who suffered a muscle injury during his participation with his country in the last international window.
On the other hand, he won his last eight away matches in various competitions before Milan put an end to this series.
Napoli is flying at the top of the Italian league standings, and its crowning with it for the first time since 1990 is only a matter of time.
On the other hand, Milan, the defending champion, entered seven times, the last of which was in 2007, with high morale against its southern rival, after suffering a severe four-goal loss in its own home earlier this month in the local league.

This is the first Italian confrontation in the knockout rounds since the Milan Derby in the 2005 semi-finals.

Only a minute had passed since the start of the match, until the first opportunity arose for Napoli, when the brilliant Georgian winger, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, hit a ball from a very narrow angle, but one of the Milan defenders saved it before it crossed the goal line.
Then Cameroonian Andre Franck Angisa hit a powerful ball, which Milan's French international goalkeeper, Mike Manian, pushed away with his fingertips (3).
Napoli remained the best team in the first twenty minutes before Milan made its first serious attempt through its Portuguese winger Rafael Liao, who made a wonderful individual effort before hitting outside the three woods (25).

And from a quick counterattack led by the Spanish winger Brahim Dias, the ball reached the Algerian international, Ismail Bennacer, inside the area, so he fired it powerfully with his left into the net (40).

Milan almost consolidated its lead when Danish defender Simon Kayer lifted a ball with his head and hit the crossbar (45 + 3).
At the beginning of the second half, Napoli almost equalized when the North Macedonian striker, Alif Almas, hit a ball that Manian saved, then the crossbar (53).

The matter became more difficult for Napoli when he completed the last quarter of an hour with ten players, after Angisa was expelled for obtaining the second yellow card (74).