Cristiano Ronaldo scored a dazzling hat-trick to lead Real Madrid to a crushing 3-0 victory over city rivals Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday.
The Portuguese forward put his team on the verge of their third final in four years and took his tally to 103 goals in the competition as he helped Madrid vanquish their neighbours at the Santiago Bernabeu.
It was another demoralising European defeat for Atletico at the hands of Real, who had beaten Diego Simeone's side in two of the competition's last three finals.
The plaudits, however, belonged once again to the extraordinary Ronaldo, who followed up his hat-trick against Bayern Munich in the quarter-final second leg at the Bernabeu with another superb treble, his 42nd in all for Madrid.
I am very happy for the goals and for reaching 400 goals with Real Madrid. We have to congratulate the whole team, we were tremendous. It fell to me to score the goals. We played well from start to finish and the goals came naturally.Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo headed home in the 10th minute after Casemiro’s bouncing cross caught out Atletico’s defence, before putting his team on the verge of another final appearance after the break.
Karim Benzema set him up to smash home his second on the half-volley in the 73rd minute and he finished from close range with four minutes remaining as Atletico offered little resistance.
The visitors' best chance came during an intense first half, when Kevin Gameiro broke through after 17 minutes, but was foiled by Keylor Navas as he tried to round the Madrid goalkeeper.
Diego Godin lunged in to divert an Antoine Griezmann free kick inches over the crossbar as Atletico sought an equaliser, but after that it was one-way traffic as Madrid imposed their dominance on their neighbours once more in European competition.
Ronaldo’s unstoppable strike from the edge of the box doubled Madrid’s lead and he completed his hat-trick shortly before the end after good work by substitute Lucas Vazquez.
Ronaldo also scored all three goals as Madrid beat Atletico by the same scoreline at the Vicente Calderon in La Liga last November and Tuesday's treble means Atletico's final European game there next week is now likely to be a sombre affair.
(This article has been edited for length.)