Cristiano Ronaldo was at his destructive best as a sensational hat-trick left Wolfsburg’s UEFA Champions League dreams in tatters.
Real Madrid needed a minor miracle to reach the semi-finals for the sixth season running, and the Portuguese was just the man to perform it. The 31-year-old wiped out the deficit with two goals inside 90 seconds early on, and then sealed victory with a free-kick that found a gap in a poorly formed wall and, from there, the back of the net.
Zinedine Zidane said on the eve of the game that his side “weren’t going to win it inside ten or 15 minutes”, but it did not take them much longer to at least cancel out their first-leg arrears. Sergio Ramos had already looped a header onto the bar when Dani Carvajal got into space down the right and his deflected cross was swept in by Ronaldo.
It was a big blow to Wolfsburg but nothing to compare with the one that followed less than 90 seconds later as Ronaldo rose and glanced in Toni Kroos’ corner. Madrid, playing with an urgency conspicuous by its absence six days ago, were suddenly level on aggregate.
It got worse before it got better for Wolfsburg as Julian Draxler limped off, yet there were signs of promise before the break and Bruno Henrique could easily have grabbed a killer away goal. Teed up with only Keylor Navas to beat, the Brazilian fatefully took a touch rather than going for goal, allowing Marcelo and Ramos to get bodies in the way.
The Madrid onslaught continued after the interval and Ramos thought he had scored midway through the second period with a header from a set piece that hit the upright and rolled to Diego Benaglio. Extra time loomed until Ronaldo sent in a free-kick that slipped through the wall and just beyond Benaglio. Like so often in this competition, it was just his night.
