Ronaldo’s hat-trick takes Real Madrid into CL semis

Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday scored a hat-trick to send Spanish giants Real Madrid through to the Champions League semi-finals with a 4-2 extra-time win against 10-men Bayern Munich.

A bizarre own goal by Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos forced the extra period after Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for the German team from the penalty spot and Ronaldo equalised.

Marcelo twice cleared off the line for Real Madrid and Jerome Boateng did the same for Bayern in a thrilling game, which was tilted in the home team’s favour by Arturo Vidal’s dismissal for two yellow cards – the second of which was harsh.

Ronaldo put Real Madrid level at 2-2 on the night in the first period of extra time when he scored his 100th Champions League goal, from a clearly offside position, before he wrapped up his hat-trick and Marco Asensio added a fourth.

Earlier, Leicester City’s fairytale Champions League journey came to an end at the King Power Stadium when the English champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Atletico Madrid, who reached the semi-finals for the third time in four seasons with a 2-1 aggregate win.

A first-half goal by Saul Niguez proved enough to ease the Spanish side through to the last four despite Leicester’s spirited revival in the second half when Jamie Vardy equalised on the night.

Diego Simeone’s side, who won the first leg in Madrid 1-0, had the better of the opening exchanges, but after Leicester finally found their feet, Shinji Okazaki firing over from close range, Saul extended Atletico’s overall lead in the 26th minute, heading home powerfully from Filipe Luis’s superb cross.

The Premier League champions, in their first Champions League campaign, responded strongly, dominating the second half, and England striker Jamie Vardy equalised on 61 minutes after Ben Chilwell’s shot was blocked, but it was not quite enough.