MADRID: Karim Benzema and Joao Felix ensured Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid claimed morale-boosting victories in La Liga on Saturday before facing the Premier League’s heavyweights next week in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Benzema missed one penalty but scored two as Real defeated Celta Vigo 2-1 to get back to winning ways ahead of Wednesday’s crunch meeting with Chelsea.

And Atletico sailed past Alaves 4-1 before their trip to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on Tuesday, the in-form Felix scoring twice, with Luis Suarez adding a brace of his own after coming on as a substitute.

Felix now has seven goals in his last eight games for Atletico and the 22-year-old is likely to be key if Diego Simeone’s men are to spring a surprise against City and reach the semi-finals.

“We go with confidence but with our feet on the ground as well because we know it will be very tough game,” said Felix.

Real’s victory at Balaidos will calm any nerves in La Liga’s title race too, allowing the leaders to draw a line under their thrashing at the hands of a resurgent Barcelona before the international break as they opened a 12-point gap over Sevilla and Atletico and a 15-point gap over Barca.

And, despite an imperfect performance, the win should restore confidence ahead of the first leg away at Chelsea, with Thomas Tuchel’s side now recovering from a humiliation of their own, after they were earlier thumped 4-1 at home by Brentford.

Chelsea, who outplayed Real Madrid over two semi-final legs last year, will be a much sterner test than Celta and Carlo Ancelotti’s side will almost certainly not have the benefit of being awarded three penalties at Stamford Bridge.

“I don’t know if we deserved to win, I had to make two big saves in the first half,” said Real ‘keeper Thibaut Courtois.

“But winning is important. Chelsea lost today at home so they will want to come back strong on Wednesday. We have to give more. We lacked a bit of intensity today and we can’t do that because that’s one of Chelsea’s strengths. We have to be aggressive.”

Back after recovering from a left-leg injury, Benzema’s brace took his tally to 34 goals across all competitions, his best scoring mark since he joined Madrid 13 seasons ago. His previous best was 32 in 2012. He has eight more league games and the remainder of the Champions League to add to his haul.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Jose Morales scored twice to lead Levante’s 2-0 win over Villarreal and breathe some life into their bid to avoid relegation. Levante were left five points from safety.

Villarreals’ loss came before they host Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.

Javier Aguirre’s debut as Mallorca’s new coach ended with a 1-0 loss at Getafe after the host scored late.

Aguirre, a veteran coach with vast experience in Spain who has twice led the national team of his native Mexico, replaced Luis Garcia Plaza. But the Balearic Island team suffered a seventh consecutive loss.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2022