🧨Valverde hat-trick v City: 3-0 at half-time, ovation! Donnarumma fuming 😡 | OneFootball

It's a historic evening for Federico Valverde who, with a hat-trick in the first half, defeats Manchester City: 3-0, now Real Madrid's qualification to the quarter-finals is within reach. In the second half, Donnarumma also saves a penalty from Vinicius that would have sealed the progression to the next round.

Great performance by the blancos who played without Rodrygo, Bellingham, Mbappé, Carreras, Alaba, Ceballos, and Militao.

In the first half, Manchester City starts strong with several dribbles and crosses from Doku, but the 1-0 comes unexpectedly: a pass from Courtois to Valverde who dribbles past O'Reilly with a flying stop and then beats Donnarumma in the 20th minute. Valverde scores a brace in the 27th minute with a left-footed cross shot and then completes the hat-trick: a lobbed ball from Brahim Diaz and a sombrero + volley from the Uruguayan. A stunning goal that earns him a standing ovation from the entire Bernabeu at the end of the half.

Real almost scores again at the start of the second half with Brahim, but City attacks, creating chances, yet it's the blancos who win a penalty: foul by Donnarumma on Vinicius (with protests to referee Mariani in Italian), but Gigio saves the Brazilian's penalty. Then both teams risk conceding goals with two defensive errors by Ruben Dias and the 2007-born Thiago Pitarch, both averted. In the end, the blancos close ranks and the cityzens fail to break through. 

😬 Ruben Dias and Pitarch, errors and missed goals

MINUTE 75 - Pitarch in the penalty area leaves the ball exposed allowing O'Reilly to shoot, Courtois saves instinctively with remarkable reflexes.

MINUTE 71 - Ruben Dias misses a stop near his goal, Brahim Diaz goes for the ball but then the defender makes a desperate sliding tackle that takes the ball. A very risky recovery that makes up for the error.

😡 Donnarumma against referee Mariani: "Why are you showing off!"

MINUTE 55 - Donnarumma before saving the penalty from Vinicius gets angry with the Italian referee Mariani, repeating twice: "Why are you showing off?!", claiming he did not foul the Brazilian.

💣 Penalty for Real: Donnarumma saves from Vinicius

MINUTE 55 - Arda Guler sends Vinicius deep on a counterattack, the Brazilian dribbles Donnarumma who brings him down with his hand. From the spot Vinicius shoots but Donnarumma saves to his left.

Vinicius apologizes to the Santiago Bernabeu after the miss, which applauds him.

🤯 HAT-TRICK Valverde! Golazo+sombrero, standing ovation 👏

MINUTE 42 - Brahim Diaz lobs a ball into the middle for Valverde who performs a sombrero on Guehi, then the midfielder shoots without the ball touching the ground. Definition of a golazo.

At the end of the first half, the entire Santiago Bernabeu rises to applaud Federico Valverde: a historic standing ovation. Valverde had scored 3 goals in his entire Champions League career over 75 matches, before tonight: now he has 6.

👊 Guardiola's assistant breaks a monitor

MINUTE 28 - After the second goal conceded by Manchester City, an assistant of Guardiola breaks the monitor on the bench out of frustration for conceding two goals in 7 minutes. Reported by Prime Video from the sidelines.

💣 DOUBLE Valverde, assist COURTOIS! Donnarumma 😱

MINUTE 28 - Vinicius makes a serpentine run and then serves a central ball that is deflected, Valverde controls it on the run and crosses with his left: ball into the corner and 2-0.

MINUTE 20 - Courtois launches long, Valverde makes a follow-up stop that beats O'Reilly and the midfielder dribbles with the tip also Donnarumma who comes out slightly late.

For Courtois it is even the 2nd assist in this edition of the Champions League, after the one served on the 2-0 goal for Mbappé against Kairat Almaty. The only other goalkeeper to achieve this was Molina for Deportivo in 2003/04.

🔥 Doku on fire and nutmeg, City on the attack

MINUTE 10 - At the start, Manchester City is dangerous with fast transitions and Doku's dribbles, who also performs a nutmeg: the winger delivers two interesting crosses that no one deflects into the goal. A shot also for Real with Brahim Diaz, saved by Donnarumma.

👀 Zidane at the Bernabeu

Zinedine Zidane is at the Bernabeu to watch the match: a pleasure visit as the former blancos coach is the No.1 candidate to become the new coach of France after the World Cup.

✅ The official line-ups: 2007-born starts for Real

REAL MADRID (4-3-3): Courtois; Alexander-Arnold, Huijsen, Rüdiger, Mendy; Valverde, Tchouaméni, Thiago; Arda Güler, Vinicius, Brahim Diaz.

MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma; Khusanov, Rúben Dias, Guéhi, O’Reilly; Rodri, Bernardo Silva; Semenyo, Savinho, Doku; Haaland.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

📸 PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU - AFP or licensors