Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick downs Atletico Madrid

ruth

November 19, 2016 9:36 PM

The Real Madrid frontman scored three goals to ensure the away side won 3-0 at the Vicente Calderon stadium

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Cristiano Ronaldo stole the headlines on Real Madrid's final league visit to the Vicente Calderon stadium, netting his 39th Real hat-trick to fire his side to their first Madrid derby victory in La Liga since April 2013.

It was the first time that the two sides had met since the Champions League final in May, with the stakes made even higher by Barcelona's failure to beat nine-man Malaga at the Camp Nou earlier in the day.

There was nothing the Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak could do about the opener midway through the first half, though, as Ronaldo broke the deadlock with a 30-yard free kick that took a big deflection off teammate Raphael Varane on the way through.

It was the three-time Ballon d'Or winner's 350th league goal from his time in La Liga and the Premier League, making him only the third player to reach that landmark in Europe's top five leagues.

Jan Oblak was forced into a smarter save from Isco's volley at the moment end shortly afterwards, but once again the keeper was helpless when it came to Real's second of the evening after Stefan Savic brought down Ronaldo in the area with an attempted clearance that he mistimed.

Ronaldo, predictably, stepped up himself and made no mistake by sending the keeper the wrong way with a clinical finish into the bottom corner.

Carrasco brought another routine save out of Navas as Atletico looked for a quick response, but their fading hopes of getting back into the match were extinguished once and for all when Ronaldo completed his hat-trick 13 minutes from time, tapping Gareth Bale's low cross home at the back post.

The goal saw Ronaldo overtake the great Alfredo di Stefano as the top scorer in Madrid derbies for Real, taking his tally for the fixture up to 18.

Atletico, meanwhile, have now lost back-to-back league games for the first time in more than four years and have conceding two or more goals in three successive league outings for the first time since November 2011.

The defeat leaves Diego Simeone's side fifth in the table, nine points adrift of their city rivals after 12 games.

ruth