European champions Real Madrid routed Liverpool with a 5-2 drubbing at Anfield in a game that saw many records break as the Spanish side staged a comeback after going 2 goals down inside 15 minutes. One such record was grabbed by Real Madrid’s talisman, Karim Benzema.
The French forward scored a brace against the English side and this was the first time he was on the scoresheet for his team this season as the striker was injured for most of the group-stage games. By scoring against Liverpool, Benzema became one of the only two players ever to have scored in 18 consecutive seasons of the UEFA Champions League, the other being Lionel Messi.
What a comeback from Real Madrid last night…
🤯 Liverpool – 1st time to concede 5 goals at Anfield in Europe
🤯 Real Madrid – 1st team to win by 3 goals after trailing by 2 in the #UCL
🤯 Benzema = Messi’s record of 18 UCL campaigns with a goal pic.twitter.com/j5G5Zb5fXO
— Betmate (@betmate_app) February 22, 2023
Benzema scored these goals across his time with Lyon where he played from 2004-09 before joining Real Madrid where he continued his goal-scoring pedigree and has thus achieved an extraordinary feat standing beside one of the greatest in the game.
Lionel Messi vs. Karim Benzema: Champions League Goals and Appearances
Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema have been two of the best players of the previous decades with both setting the stage on fire with their performances. Messi has appeared in a total of 162 games in the UEFA Champions League out of which 149 have been for FC Barcelona and 13 for PSG. He has scored been a prolific player for his sides scoring 129 goals in the UCL out of which 120 have been for Barca.
Benzema, on the other hand, started his career in France and has appeared in 146 UCL games out of which 19 have been for Lyon and the rest for Real Madrid where has been for over a decade. During this time, Benzema has scored a total of 88 goals, the majority of which he has scored for Real Madrid.
One season wonder Benzema now has scored 88 UCL goals ( would have been even more if he didn’t miss group stage games through injuries) and he also scored in 18 consecutive UCL seasons.
— Druchk (@andruchk) February 22, 2023
Both have been very successful over the years as Lionel Messi won the Champions League 3 times in 2009, 2011, and 2015 while also winning the Ballon d’Or a record 7 times. But Benzema has more UCL titles than the Argentine as he has won it 5 times, 2 more than Messi.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Appearances and Goals in the Champions League
Arguably the best player ever in the Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo, is the most remarkable absence at this year’s tournament after Ronaldo left Europe and moved to the Saudi Arabian club, Al-Nassr.
Ronaldo holds a number of records in the Champions League as he is the highest goalscorer in the competition with 140 goals across a record 197 appearances across his stints with three clubs, Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus.
530 teams have competed in the Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo has more UCL goals than 488 of them. Madness. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/lTwEVnRnn3
— The CR7 Timeline. (@TimelineCR7) February 21, 2023
Ronaldo is one of the all-time greats of the game but he has particularly shone brightly in the UCL winning the title 5 times. He has also finished as the top scorer in the tournament 7 times but the Portuguese failed to equal Messi and Benzema’s record of scoring in 18 consecutive UCL seasons as he managed to do so for only 16 seasons, which is also quite significant.