£100m man’s hat-trick stuns Atletico to save Euro dream
JUVENTUS ......... 3 A MADRID ......... 0
JUBILANT Juventus players raced the length of the pitch at full-time to mob their team-mate and hat-trick hero Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo had wrenched control of this tie away from Atletico before completing his treble four minutes from time to send Juve into the quarter-finals in dramatic style.
The £100million Portuguese star opened the scoring midway through the first half when he got on the end of a whipped cross from Federico Bernardeschi.
Three minutes after the break, he levelled the tie when he headed home Joao Cancelo’s superb cross.
And four minutes from the end, Ronaldo converted from the spot after Angel Correa brought down Bernardeschi.
He has now scored eight Champions League hat-tricks – joint-top alongside Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
Juve boss Max Allegri said: “The lads put in a great performance. They had technique, precision, aggression and it’s what we had planned for the first leg but I made some changes.
“Everyone had been waiting for so long for this game, there AGG: 3-2 was the possibility of a neurotic performance, so I told the lads to stay calm.”
Atletico paid the price for an ultra-cautious approach by manager Diego Simeone.
Juve defender Giorgio Chiellini, in his 500th appearance for the Italian champions, had the ball in the net after four minutes but it was disallowed for a foul by Ronaldo on keeper Jan Oblak.
The Serie A side made little headway until Bernardeschi switched to the left and floated a cross to the far post for Ronaldo to outjump Juanfran and head in.
Atletico’s first real chance fell to on-loan striker Alvaro Morata but he headed over.
Juve went back on the attack after the break and levelled the aggregate score at 2-2.
Ronaldo met Cancelo’s cross with another header and although Oblak clawed the ball away, VAR showed it had crossed the line by centimetres.
With extra-time looming, Bernardeschi was pushed in the back by Correa, leaving Ronaldo to blast home the penalty.