Ronaldo hat-trick puts Real Madrid in seventh straight semi-final

Real Madrid 4 Bayern Munich 2 (Real Madrid win 6-3 on aggregate)

A Cristiano Ronaldo late show at the Bernabeu saw Real Madrid squeeze past Bayern Munich into the last four of the Champions League, the Portuguese star scoring twice in extra-time to turn an enthralling tie on its head.

A Robert Lewandowski penalty and a Sergio Ramos own goal sandwiched Ronaldo's first to take the tie to extra-time, before a quickfire double from the four-time Ballon d'Or winner broke the visitors' spirit. Marco Asensio then added a fourth goal as the reigning champions reached a record seventh successive semi-final in the competition.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The hat-trick also gave Ronaldo his 100th Champions League goal, becoming the first player to reach that mark, with Lionel Messi six behind on 94.

The thrilling second leg was marred, though, by two questionable refereeing decisions. The first came in the 84th minute when Arturo Vidal was sent off with the game poised at 3-3 on aggregate, picking up a second yellow card for what appeared to be a clean tackle on Asensio. Then, towards the end of the first period of extra-time, Ronaldo was standing a yard offside when the ball came to him to fire home left-footed and put his side ahead on aggregate.

There was also a suspicion of offside for the third and final goal of his "perfect" hat-trick (right foot, left foot and header), leaving Bayern boss Carlo Ancelotti to admit after the game that the performance of referee Viktor Kassai and his officiating team had changed his mind over the use of video technology at the top level.

"The referee probably wasn't up to the task," he fumed. "I don't think Real Madrid have any influence on referees. The officials tonight simply got it wrong. I had never been in favour of video technology, but I must admit it's necessary now."

Zinedine Zidane, meanwhile, refused to be drawn on the criticism of Kassai. "More than the second yellow or the offside goals," said the Real boss, "the six goals we scored over the two games we deserved to go through in the tie. There is no luck in football, you must win, and we won both games."