CL Semi Final 1 – Ronaldo’s 42nd Real Madrid hat-trick slays Atletico
Cristiano Ronaldo scored another Champions League hat-trick as Real Madrid thrashed Atletico Madrid in the semi-final first leg to close in on a third final in four years.
Ronaldo wheels away after his powerful header had beaten Jan Oblak to put Real ahead a little over nine minutes into the tie
Real were dominant throughout the game against their city rivals at the Bernabeu and led after just 10 minutes when Ronaldo headed home Casemiro’s cross.
Ronaldo smashed in an unstoppable shot from 16 yards to get a second and then the forward ensured all the headlines would be his with a second consecutive Champions League hat-trick, having scored five goals in the quarter-final against Bayern Munich. It was his easiest goal of the night, he controlled Lucas Vazquez’s cross, then fired home.
Atletico only had one shot on target and will need to pull off one of the Champions League’s all-time special performances to stop double-chasing Real from ending their European dreams for the fourth straight season.
CR7’s hatrick means that he has now has drawn level with his rival Lionel Messi, on seven Champions League hat-tricks and is now the top scorer in the history of the Champions League with 103 goals
Ronaldo fires home his second of the night
Back-to-back trebles – having achieved the same feat against Bayern Munich last time out – have taken his record-breaking haul in the competition to 103.
Messi has been left behind on 94, with Barca crashing out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage this season.
Ronaldo now has his sights set on another final, having become the first man since Robert Lewandowski in 2012-13 to achieve complete domination of a semi-final clash.
