Micah Richards hailed as ’s ‘best player’ in their quarter-final first leg defeat to .
Holders Chelsea have a after .
Benzema scored two first-half headers and added a third for Madrid shortly after half-time, capitalising on a .
Real Madrid’s third goal came after Havertz had pulled one back for the hosts, who are looking to become only the second team to .
‘I thought he was Chelsea’s best player tonight,’ former Manchester City defender Richards said of Havertz.
Speaking on , Richards added: ‘Chelsea disappointed me a little bit, but when he scored it was game on. It’s a great header from Havertz and the movement is great too.
‘At that point I thought Chelsea were going to take the game to Real Madrid, but obviously they made a big mistake in the second half and got punished.
‘Chelsea did have some chances, they just couldn’t put them away. Real Madrid looked up for it tonight, when you see this Real Madrid you think they’re going to go far.’
Blues boss Thomas Tuchel slammed Chelsea’s performance in west London and warned his team they will get ‘hammered’ by Southampton this weekend and in the return leg if they do not improve.
Chelsea’s Champions League setback came just four days after they suffered a in the Premier League.
‘It is a heavy loss. It was one of the worst first halves that I saw from us here at Stamford Bridge,’ Tuchel said after the 3-1 defeat.
‘Individually and as a team it was by far not enough. It was far from our standards and then you lose games.
‘Passing, where we passed, how we passed when we passed, when we attacked, the ball possession game… first half was so from any standards that we set ourselves that we cannot complain when we lose.
‘We had 16 shots in the second half. You can always come back and win it but when you kill the game by yourself after 45 minutes it is harder and harder.
‘No, we don’t have to go to Madrid we have to go Southampton and it is very important to process this. It is crucial that we go to Southampton and perform.
‘If we keep playing like this we will lose at Southampton and then we will get hammered at Bernabeu.’
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, who won the Premier League and FA Cup double while at Chelsea, added: ‘We played well.
‘Good control of the game, good build up from the back, dangerous counterattack. It was a good night but it is only the first half of this round.
‘It was really good. We showed good organisation defensively. We had a fantastic performance up front from Benzema. A good performance.
‘We have an advantage. We have to prepare for the next game in the league and then Tuesday will be another game. We have a lot of respect for this team who were the winners of the last Champions League.’
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