WATCH: Valverde’s stunning first-half hat-trick gives Real Madrid control against Manchester City
Los Blancos have command of the last-16 tie.
Federico Valverde scored a sublime first-half hat-trick to give Real Madrid a 3-0 lead over Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the Santiago Bernabeu.
City entered the game as favourites against a Madrid side struggling for form, and Pep Guardiola’s men dictated the play in the early stages.
Yet Valverde single-handedly turned the tie in Madrid’s favour with his first career hat-trick, Los Blancos’ captain scoring three times in an astonishing 22-minute spell.
City were caught cold in the 20th minute as a sublime piece of distribution from Courtois saw his long pass catch out Nico O’Reilly and send Valverde free down the right.
The Uruguay international still had a lot of work to do to round the onrushing Gianluigi Donnarumma, but had the composure to do so before finding the net from a difficult angle.
It was 2-0 seven minutes later, Valverde latching on to a Vinicius Junior pass that deflected off Ruben Dias and firing across Donnarumma.
Valverde saved the best for last in the 42nd minute, as he flicked an excellent pass from former City man Brahim Diaz over the head of Marc Guehi and capped his treble with a volley to send the home fans into raptures.
Courtois makes history
The first goal saw Courtois make history with his superb assist.
Courtois became just the second goalkeeper to assist two or more goals in a Champions League season, while the Belgian also claimed the outright record for the most assists in the compeititon by a goalkeeper, his ball for Valverde taking his tally to three.
Valverde, meanwhile, emulated Barcelona legend Lionel Messi in becoming only the second player to score a first-half hat-trick against an English club.
Messi achieved the feat against Arsenal in 2010 in a 4-1 win in the second leg of the quarter-finals, with Barca prevailing 6-3 on aggregate.
Even with Valverde’s heroics, the tie was a long way from over at half-time, but Guardiola and his players were left with a mountain to climb to stay in the competition and stay in the hunt for a quadruple.