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Real Madrid captain Federico Valverde scored the first hat-trick of his professional career to lead his side to a strong 3-0 win over Manchester City in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie on Wednesday.
The emphatic result saw the Spanish giants continue their recent dominance over City in Europe and now have a comfortable advantage going into the second leg.
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Manchester City started the match slightly better but failed to make their chances count. Real Madrid soon settled into the game and took the lead when goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois launched a long pass forward. Valverde ran onto the ball, beat a defender and goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, and finished into an empty net.
The midfielder doubled the lead before the half-hour mark after a quick attacking move led by Vinícius Júnior, who drove forward from the left and set up Valverde for a simple finish.
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Valverde later completed his hat-trick to seal an impressive win for Madrid and put them in a strong position to reach the quarter-finals once again.
In France, Paris Saint-Germain produced an exciting attacking display to beat Chelsea 5-2 at the Parc des Princes.
Bradley Barcola opened the scoring for PSG after connecting with a pass from João Neves. Chelsea responded through Malo Gusto, but Ousmane Dembélé quickly restored the home side’s lead just before half-time.
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Chelsea equalised again in the second half when Enzo Fernández finished from Pedro Neto’s cross to make it 2-2.
However, PSG pulled away late in the game. Vitinha scored after being set up by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who later added two goals of his own, including a fine curling strike, to give the French champions a big advantage ahead of the return leg in London.
Elsewhere, Bodø/Glimt beat Sporting CP 3-0 in Norway, while Arsenal drew 1-1 with Bayer Leverkusen after Kai Havertz scored a late penalty against his former club.
