Ronaldo hat-trick ensures Real Madrid turn

Sport Desk: The Bernabéu bounced and burst into song, the lyrics ringing around the arena echoing the words that had adorned the huge banner unfurled at the south end before the kick-off. “Tell me how it feels,” they gloated.

High in the north end, Atlético’s supporters sat in silence, stunned. This felt terrible. It was happening again, the pain unbearable. For a fourth consecutive year, they had met their rivals and for a fourth consecutive year they had fallen.

There will be a second leg to this Champions League semi-final but like all those derbies Atlético thought they had left behind it is likely to be irrelevant, even if Zinedine Zidane insisted it was not done.

“Football is wonderful because unexpected things can happen,” Diego Simeone said but the Atlético manager’s words were one thing, his look another. This had hurt him too.

There is something about Real that Atlético simply cannot overcome; everyone else is one thing, their city rivals another. Under Simeone, Atlético have conceded only 20 goals in Champions League knockout rounds, including finals, but nine of them have been to Real.

Three here carried Real towards a third final in four years. They were led by the relentless Cristiano Ronaldo. Five times he scored against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals; three times he scored against Atlético.

“It came to me to score the goals but the whole team played well. It was the complete performance,” Ronaldo said. His first goal had come after 10 minutes, the last after 86. In between, Atlético did not manage a shot on target for the first time this season.

Real’s past 11 goals in this competition had come in the second half but this time a goal arrived early. Sergio Ramos was given time to cross from right, curling the ball towards Ronaldo, hovering behind Diego Godín. The defender headed out but only as far as Casemiro, who hit the ball straight back. He did not strike it well but it bounced up and Ronaldo, six yards out, headed past Jan Oblak.

Source: Agencies



risingbd/Dhaka/May 03, 2017/A K Azad