Real Madrid 3-0 Man City: Valverde hat-trick hands Guardiola joint-heaviest Champions League knockout first-leg defeat | OneFootball

Real Madrid thrashed Manchester City 3-0 in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg at the Bernabeu on Wednesday evening.

Man City dominated possession early on, but it was Madrid who took the lead in the 21st minute.

Thibaut Courtois’ long pass found Federico Valverde, and the midfielder took advantage of Gianluigi Donnarumma’s poor positioning to open the scoring.

Valverde made it 2-0 after the half-hour mark, picking out the far corner after Vinicius Junior’s pass deflected into his path inside the area.

The Uruguayan completed his hat-trick before half-time with a moment of brilliance, controlling Brahim Diaz’s pass before evading a challenge and finishing clinically.

Just after the restart, Donnarumma made a brilliant save to deny Diaz as Madrid looked to pick up where they left off before the break.

At the other end, Thibaut Courtois kept out Antoine Semenyo’s effort after playing a lovely one-two with Bernardo Silva.

Madrid were handed a penalty in the 56th minute after Vinicius was brought down inside the box, but the Brazilian’s effort was saved by Donnarumma.

Courtois later produced a brilliant stop to preserve Madrid’s three-goal cushion, sticking out a leg to keep out Nico O’Reilly’s close range strike.

The defeat handed manager Pep Guardiola his joint-heaviest defeat in the first leg of a Champions League knockout tie. It matched defeats against Barcelona in the 2014/15 semi-finals and Liverpool in 2017/18 quarter-finals.