Real Madrid 3 - 0 Atletico Madrid: Ronaldo destroys rivals

Cristiano Ronaldo completes his hat-trick as Real Madrid defeated Atletico 3-0. Picture: Getty.

Ronaldo had taken his tally of European goals to 100 in the quarter-final win over Bayern Munich, which included a second-leg treble, and was once more the man for the big occasion to put the holders within touching distance of the final again.

The two city rivals were meeting in Europe’s elite competition for a fourth successive year, with Real having also won the 2014 final.

Atletico coach Diego Simeone had warned of a strong start by Real, and that is exactly what his team faced.

Right-back Dani Carvajal darted into the penalty area and drove in a low shot which goalkeeper Jan Oblak palmed on to Real forward Karim Benzema, who could only prod the ball wide.

It was, though, only a matter of time before Real took the lead. A cross by Sergio Ramos was nodded out only as far as Casemiro, who swung the ball in from the right towards the back post where Ronaldo powered a bullet header past Oblak.

The goal was perhaps fortunate to have stood as Ronaldo appeared a yard offside when Ramos had first played the ball in.

Real continued their offensive. On 16 minutes, Oblak pulled off a fine save as Raphael Varane looked to guide a corner from Toni Kroos into the bottom corner.

At the other end, Atletico finally came to life when Saul Niguez put Kevin Gameiro clear to run behind the Real defence, but goalkeeper Keylor Navas was out quickly to make a well-timed save.

Real were forced into a change at the start of the second half when Carvajal was replaced by Nacho, the defender having appeared to pick up a hamstring injury just before the interval.

The opening exchanges following the break lacked tempo as Atletico remained patient while they sought a way back into the tie.

Simeone then looked to inject some fresh impetus into his side on 55 minutes when Gameiro and Saul were replaced by Fernando Torres and Nicolas Gaitan.

If there was some debate about Ronaldo’s opening goal, there was none about the 32-year-old’s second on 73 minutes.

Benzema held the ball up from Diego Godin at the edge of the Atletico penalty area before laying it off towards Ronaldo. Filipe Luis slipped as he tried to make a clearance, Ronaldo latched on to the loose ball and fired it home.

Atletico were cut open again with four minutes left when Vazquez charged to the goalline and pulled the ball back to the penalty spot, where Casemiro stepped over it for Ronaldo to knock into the net and take the adulation of the Bernabeu once more.