CR7’s hat-trick helps Real Madrid dominate over Atletico Madrid

The 32-year-old scored a hat-trick for the second European match in a row to give the holders a 3-0 first-leg victory at the Santiago Bernabeu and take a big step towards the final in Cardiff.

Cristiano Ronaldo put in another sensational performance in the Bernabéu on Tuesday night, scoring a hat-trick as Real Madrid beat Atlético 3-0 in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals. Three down and without an away goal, Atleti face the challenge of their lives.

Real Madrid have a game in hand but can not afford to drop more points in those matches as Barcelona are now leading the table due to the head-to-head records.

As they often do against quality opposition, Atletico’s plan to sit deep and press effectively unraveled as early as the 10th minute, when Ronaldo gave the home side an early lead, nodding in Casemiro’s cross after Atletico had failed to clear Sergio Ramos’s initial ball in.

In an exclusive interview with Dugout, Ronaldo said: “It’s very special”.

Ronaldo has now scored three more Champions League goals than Atletico have in their history with 103. However, real Madrid also has its own series, comprised of 14 matches in the Champions League without a defeat.

Please Wait while comments are loading. We played well from the first to the last whistle. Simeone’s team had kept nine clean sheets in its last 13 games in all competitions, conceding only four goals.

For all the great work done to revive a sleeping giant in Atletico by Diego Simeone over the past five-and-a-half years, ending their hex against Real in the Champions League continues to allude them. “You can defend well, you can control the midfield, but you still need someone to score the goals”.

“There’s no such thing as an easy game in football”.

“Atletico are a very fine, strong side and it’s not by chance that they’re in the semi-finals”.

“I feel relaxed, more than anything else, more than ever”.

And Simeone is clinging to the hope of something similarly unexpected. Anything can happen. Anything is possible.

“The first half was even and we could have gone in front at the one-versus-one between [Kevin] Gameiro and Keylor [Navas]”, he pointed out.