Another Champions League hat trick for Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo took centre stage once again on Tuesday, as he scored a hat trick at the Santiago Bernabeu to make another Champions League final for Real Madrid look extremely likely. 

Despite another impressive scoring season by the Portuguese superstar, which included five goals in the quarter final against Bayern Munich, Cristiano Ronaldo has had his fair amount of criticism this season, with some even questioning whether or not he should be in the starting lineup. 

He proved exactly why he should be in the side on Tuesday, scoring the opening goal of the Champions League semi final tie against Atletico Madrid after just ten minutes. 

Real Madrid completely dominated against their local rivals, who only managed one shot on target during the whole match. The dominance was not reflected on the scoreboard however, with just a single goal separating the two teams as the match entered it's final twenty minutes. 

Ronaldo, the all time Champions League top scorer, then stepped up once again to double Real's lead, with a powerful effort from sixteen yards. There was still time for Ronaldo to add another Champions League hat trick to his record, when he cooly fired in his third with four minutes to go. 

Atletico still have the second leg to redeem themselves, but they will have to put in a much better performance than they did in this one. Real Madrid look set for a third final in four years, but we have seen bigger second leg turnarounds than this so far this season.