Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Real Madrid to a record sixth successive Champions League semi-final with a hat-trick as the Spanish giants overturned a 2-0 first leg deficit, beating Wolfsburg 3-0 on Tuesday. Ronaldo struck twice in just over a minute to bring Madrid level in the tie inside 17 minutes.
Yet, the 10-time winners were forced to wait until 13 minutes from time to find the winner when Ronaldo's dipping free-kick escaped the clutches of Diego Benaglio to find the bottom corner. "Cristiano deserved a magic night," said Madrid captain Sergio Ramos. "We need him, he gives everything for the shirt. For a long time he has shown he is the number one and when is on form you notice."
Madrid hadn't overturned a first-leg deficit in the Champions League in eight attempts stretching back 14 years to when coach Zinedine Zidane played for Los Blancos in a quarter-final win over Bayern Munich.
However, they roared back into the tie and were level as Ronaldo struck twice in 86 seconds. Dani Carvajal replaced the much-criticised Danilo in Madrid's only change from the first leg at right-back and the Spanish international's deflected cross fell perfectly for Ronaldo to tap home the opener at the back post. The two nearly combined for the second straight from the restart as another dangerous Carvajal effort was just cut out before Ronaldo could head home. However, there was no stopping the three-time World Player of the Year from the resulting corner as his downward header found the bottom corner of the net for his 15th Champions League goal of the season.