“Ramadan Benzema is bigger than prime Messi,” “Todd Boehly saw Madrid scores” – Twitter explodes as Real Madrid cruise to 2-0 win over Chelsea

Real Madrid defeated 10-man Chelsea by a scoreline of 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday, 12 April, in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. Fans on Twitter went into a meltdown as they watched the action unpack in the match.

Karim Benzema opened the scoring for the Spanish giants in the 21st minute of the match. The Frenchman scored his 349th goal for the club to give Carlo Ancelotti's side the lead.

While Frank Lampard's team showed encouraging signs, they couldn't find the back of the net, especially thanks to a great save from Thibaut Courtois.

Things exacerbated for the Blues when Ben Chilwell was sent off in the 59th minute for his blatant foul on Rodrygo. Chilwell was the last man in defense as Chilwell headed towards the goal and he decided to bring the Brazilian attacker to the ground.

Marco Asensio capitalized on the man advantage as the winger scored in the 74th minute to seal the fate of the match.

Here are some of the best reactions from across Twitter as Real Madrid played Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first-leg clash:

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard's hopes of replicating Roberto Di Matteo's feat looks difficult after loss vs. Real Madrid

Roberto Di Matteo guided Chelsea to UEFA Champions League glory in the 20211-12 season after taking charge as the caretaker manager. Lampard was a key player of that team.

After being appointed as the caretaker boss to replace Graham Potter recently, the midfield legend was quizzed as to whether he can replicate the Italian manager's feat. He said (via 90min):

"He did an amazing job. I remember big parts of why he achieved what he achieved. My situation is different in practice… I think I have to be careful making that parallel. We have very tough games in front of us. So there’s a lot of work to be done but we’re very committed to trying to, if we can, create our own little bit of history."

Lampard's assessment looks on point as the Blues look on the cusp of elimination after their first-leg defeat against Real Madrid. Whether they can launch a comeback in a week's time remains to be seen.