Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Real Madrid to a record sixth successive Champions League semi-final with a hat-trick as the Spanish giants overturned a 2-0 first leg deficit to beat Wolfsburg 3-0 on Tuesday.
Real Madrid's Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates with
teammates after scoring during the Champions League quarter-final second
leg football match against Wolfsburg at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium
in Madrid, Spain. (CURTO DE LA TORRE/AFP)
MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Real Madrid to a record
sixth successive Champions League semi-final with a hat-trick as the
Spanish giants overturned a 2-0 first leg deficit to beat Wolfsburg 3-0
on Tuesday (Apr 12).
Ronaldo struck twice in just over a minute to bring Madrid
level in the tie inside 17 minutes. Yet, the 10-time winners were forced
to wait until 13 minutes from time to find the winner when Ronaldo's
dipping free-kick escaped the clutches of Diego Benaglio to find the
bottom corner.
"Cristiano deserved a magic night," said Madrid captain
Sergio Ramos. "We need him, he gives everything for the shirt. For a
long time he has shown he is the number one and when is on form you
notice."
Madrid hadn't overturned a first leg deficit in the
Champions League in eight attempts stretching back 14 years to when
coach Zinedine Zidane played for Los Blancos in a quarter-final win over
Bayern Munich.
However, they roared back into the tie and were level as Ronaldo struck twice in 86 seconds.
Dani Carvajal replaced the much-criticised Danilo in
Madrid's only change from the first leg at right-back and the Spanish
international's deflected cross fell perfectly for Ronaldo to tap home
the opener at the back post.
The two nearly combined for the second straight from the
restart as another dangerous Carvajal effort was just cut out before
Ronaldo could head home.
However, there was no stopping the three-time World Player
of the Year from the resulting corner as his downward header found the
bottom corner for his 15th Champions League goal of the season.
Wolfsburg's disastrous start was compounded when star
midfielder Julian Draxler limped off injured to be replaced by Max Kruse
just after the half hour mark.
Yet, the Germans still managed to grow into the game as the opening 45 minutes wore on.
Luis Gustavo's fierce long-range effort forced Keylor Navas
into a decent save before Bruno Henrique squandered a huge chance to net
the vital away goal as he hesitated in getting his shot off and Marcelo
got back to block the ball behind.
Madrid started on the front foot again at the start of the
second-half as Ronaldo saw a free-kick deflected wide before Benaglio
was forced into a save to prevent Joshua Guilavogui turning a cross into
his own net.
The hosts were convinced they had gone ahead for the first
time in the tie when Sergio Ramos's header came off the inside of the
post and rolled along the goal line, but Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai
adjudged the ball hadn't crossed the line.
Wolfsburg continued to pose the threat of an away goal as Vieirinha fired wide before Dante's downward header was held by Navas.
However, Ronaldo finally struck the decisive blow when his
free-kick from 25 yards skidded off the wet turf and beyond the
despairing dive of Benaglio to seal his 37th hat-trick for Madrid.
The Swiss 'keeper then kept Wolfsburg in the tie with
brilliant saves from Karim Benzema and Jese Rodriguez to set up a
grandstand finish.
But Madrid's experience told in the dying stages as they
comfortable saw the game out to match Barcelona's record run of six
semi-finals between 2008 and 2013.
- AFP/de
Football: Ronaldo's hat-trick fires Real Madrid into semi-finals
Reviewed by Bizpodia
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