Federico Valverde’s brilliant first-half hat-trick secured Real Madrid a stunning 3-0 victory over Manchester City, who have a mountain to climb to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
Real Madrid, who were missing the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo, were distinct second-favourites heading into the game but they produced a clinical opening 45 minutes as Valverde stole the show at the Bernabeu.
Thibaut Courtois’s long pass over the head of Nico O’Reilly was exquisitely controlled by Valverde as his first touch took him in on goal. He rounded Gianluigi Donnarumma, who had charged out to the edge of his penalty area, before sliding the ball it home from an extremely tight angle to give the hosts the lead (20).
The goal had come somewhat against the run of play after what was a fast start from City but Real Madrid took full control of the game when Valverde popped up behind the City defence to latch onto Vinicius Jnr’s flicked pass and finish beyond Donnarumma again (27).
The first half was the Valverde show and he capped a phenomenal performance with arguably his best goal of the night. He showed an outstanding touch to bring the ball down inside the penalty area and flick it past Marc Geuhi. Donnarumma rushed out to make a block but Valverde flashed a shot past him (42) for a first career hat-trick and to put the hosts in dreamland.
Valverde scored a first career hat-trick
After Real Madrid’s devastating first-half performance, Manchester City’s odds to win the Champions League had gone from 9/1 to 33/1 but they could have lengthened further had it not been for Donnarumma in the second half.
The City goalkeeper had to be alert to keep out Brahim Diaz’s low drive minutes after the restart as City threatened to crumble.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Michael Brown reacts to Federico Valverde’s hat-trick in Real Madrid’s Champions League clash with Manchester City
Donnarumma then atoned for his initial error after he brought down Vinicius Jnr, who was through on goal. The Italian recovered by keeping out the Brazilian’s lacklustre penalty in a moment City hoped might swing some momentum back in their favour.
However, Pep Guardiola’s side found Courtois in inspired form, the former Chelsea goalkeeper showing fine reactions to divert O’Reilly’s tackle-shot over the crossbar with his leg to leave City’s Champions League hopes hanging by a thread ahead of next week’s second leg at the Etihad.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The Soccer Special pundit, Michael Brown, says Real Madrid punished Pep Guardiola’s adventurous set-up in a disappointing Champions League night.
Pep: Man City have ‘not much’ chance against Real but will always try
Guardiola conceded Man City had “not much” chance but refused to rule out a dramatic fightback in the second leg next week.
“It is a bad result, we cannot deny it,” Guardiola said.
“The first goal was not well defended and after that the quality they had with Valverde and the other players, it was a difficult result.
“But obviously 3-0 is better than 4-0. We have six days. We will recover, go to West Ham, then with our people we will try.”
Asked what chance City had, Guardiola added: “Now, not much but I’m not a guy to say we’re not going to try.
“Now it is most difficult (moment) to live but our mindset is we will look (at) what to do better, try to be more active in the final third and we will try.”
‘Defeat feels really dark’
Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva, speaking to TNT Sports:
“It is difficult to speak about it because I would need to watch it again. My feeling on the pitch was that we started the game well.
“The environment we could not control and I think my team let the emotions change the game. We felt comfortable and were finding the right spaces but after conceding the first one we lost completely the control, we stopped controlling transitions and second balls. When you play against Real Madrid with the quality they have you pay the price.
“It is a tough stadium to play at. We are used to playing at these stadiums because playing at Anfield and St James’ Park is very tough. You need to go through these moments to become better and today was just a learning game for the whole team.
“It is quite frustrating [we didn’t score], even though we believe it is still possible because in football a lot of things can happen, at half-time we were saying, ‘the situation is bad’ there were a lot of things that shouldn’t have happened but with one goal you are in the tie.
At 3-0 it makes it a bit more difficult. Now it feels really bad, now it feels really dark. Tomorrow is another day and for sure next week we will go to the game thinking we have a chance.
“Right now is the moment to reflect and see what we didn’t do right. Then next week when we are preparing we will be hopeful we can do something.”
Story of the match in stats…
Trent: A lot of people expected us to get battered
Real Madrid defender Trent Alexander-Arnold speaking to TNT Sports:
“A massive performance. A lot of the noise when the draw happened and then leading up to this game, especially the way that we’ve been playing the last few games and the results we’ve had, a lot of people just expected us to get battered tonight but it just shows the mentality.
“It doesn’t matter what injuries you’ve got, what players out, this competition means a lot to the club.
“And as players, we understand that.
“We’ve absolutely executed the game plan perfectly in the first half. People will say that their favourites and going off results and the way that both teams have been playing, it could have been true, but when in the Champions League anyone can beat anyone. We know our game plan, we executed it, and scored our goals very, very ruthlessly.
“You need to perform, especially when you play for a club like this. The expectation is there’s no excuses. You have to win. So our mentality is to go all the way and win the game when the competition no matter who’s in front of us.”
When are the knockout stages?
Round of 16 second legs: March 17-18
Quarter-finals: April 7-8 and 14-15
Semi-finals: April 28-29 and May 5-6
Final: May 30 (Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary)
