There are football players…then there’s Christiano Ronaldo. Indeed, the Juventus skipper showed just why he is the specialist when it comes to the Champions League.
The iconic number 7 netted a sensational hat-trick as Juventus overturned a 2-0 first-leg loss to win 3-0 against Atletico Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League. The Portuguese gave football fans a timely reminder of his ruthlessness as his goals sealed a quarter-final berth for the Serie A Champions.
Having lost 2-0 in the first leg at the Wanda Metropolitano, Juventus needed a special performance to overturn the result at home. The opening half hour was largely one-sided, with the Italian champions dominating play, while Atletico Madrid sat deep and defended.
However, the moment of glory came in the 27th minute when Cristiano Ronaldo scored to renew the hopes of Juventus fans. The Portuguese rose highest to head home from a Federico Bernardeschi cross to put Max Allegri’s side into the lead. The Serie A leaders continued to dominate but found it increasingly hard to find a way past Atletico’s resolute defense.
Neither team could add to the scoring as the first half ended 1-0 in favour of Juventus. The second half started in similar fashion, as the Serie A side enjoyed the larger share of possession. But unlike in the first half, it took just four minutes after the restart for Juve to get on the scoresheet.
Ronaldo was again in the thick of affairs as he applied a lethal finish past Jan Oblak to make it 2-0 to Juve on the night and 2-2 on aggregate. The Portuguese has been in this kind of situation before, and he showed great character to pull his side level.
Once that second goal went in, it was only a matter of time before Ronaldo completed his hat-trick. The Portuguese demonstrated courage and calm to slot home from the penalty spot to make the scoreline 3-0 to Juventus.
Ronaldo’s performance has sparked Twitter into a meltdown, with fans taking to Twitter to troll Real Madrid who
Real Madrid watching Cristiano Ronaldo like…#UCL pic.twitter.com/BMIjGKiLlr
— Biola Omowanle (@Beeorlicious) March 12, 2019
Real Madrid fans looking at Ronaldo’s performance tonight pic.twitter.com/xGnnQ4j2RT
— Soccer Nation (@SoccerNationNg) March 12, 2019
We were never Real Madrid supporters, after all we were just following 🐐🐐 Ronaldo pic.twitter.com/2FIdhPifs0
— Mr.Bhampetsheni (@Mr_Khamboole) March 12, 2019
Me when Zidane came back to Real Madrid but Ronaldo is at Juventus pic.twitter.com/cvgCCulfe7
— Amir (@CrZoloh) March 11, 2019
Ronaldo when he see’s Zidane go to real madrid pic.twitter.com/oOHh3Mx5K8
— HDM (@happy_dman) March 11, 2019
Real Madrid fans watching Ronaldo… pic.twitter.com/RnJlAXvsDI
— FootballFunnys (@FootballFunnnys) March 12, 2019