Ronaldo says he’s staying at Real Madrid, defends Benitez

The game meant little for Madrid because it had already secured first place in Group A, but the convincing victory helped ease the pressure on coach Rafa Benitez and president Florentino Perez. However, Ronaldo is ahead of Messi in terms of total number of goals scored in this competition: the Portuguese player reached 88 goals scored, while his rival has only 79.

Wolfsburg would eventually win 3-2, a result that sees them finish top of Group B and which relegates Manchester United to the Europa League.

The Champions League’s all-time leading scorer registered an 11-minute hat-trick and all four in a 19-minute spell either side of half-time.

Real boss Rafael Benitez will also be rotating other members of his squad today, resting players for their big game against Villarreal at the weekend. Two minutes after that, he got on the end of Danilo’s cross and hit a low effort by goalkeeper Johan Wiland. Those were his first goals since being implicated in a blackmail case in relation to an alleged extortion scam over a sex tape featuring his French national teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

The 8th goal was scored by the young player Kovacic. He racked up his impressive tally against Malmo and Shakhtar Donetsk. “I have a contract with Real Madrid and I will stay here”, he continued. Shakhtar Donetsk and Malmo FF are third and fourth respectively and both have three points so far in the competition.

The well-travelled manager has won league titles in Italy, England and France, having enjoyed much success with the likes of AC Milan, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain. Sevilla ended with six points and Gladbach finished bottom on five.

PSV advanced for the first time since 2006.

The Argentine has scored 289 times for Barcelona and is still going strong, if not stronger than his Portuguese counterpart in terms of goals. He found Isco, who then slipped it in to Benzema, and the Frenchman showed good composure in firing home.

Benfica substitute Kostas Mitroglou halved the difference in the 75th.

ISTANBUL – Galatasaray clinched a spot in the Europa League by drawing with Astana 1-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Raheem Sterling celebrated his 21st birthday with a quickfire double to put City in front with nine minutes remaining before Wilfried Bony added the final gloss shortly afterwards.

Europe’s top teams continue to battle in the UEFA Champions League.