UCL: Ronaldo stars as Real thrash 10-man Juve

Cristiano Ronaldo put on a show as Real Madrid ended Juventus’s 27-game unbeaten home run in brilliant fashion. Ronaldo scored twice as Los Blancos emerged with a comfortable 3-0 win over the Italians, who had Paulo Dybala sent off, in their Champions League quarter final first leg match in Turin.

In what was a repeat of last season’s CL final in Cardiff, the hosts were hoping to pay Real back for that 4-1 defeat.

However, it was the defending champions who started the brightest and went into the break with a deserved 1-0 lead, after Ronaldo’s third minute effort.

Juve did come close on a number of occasions in the first half, notably a Gonzalo Higuian header, which was superbly saved by Real’s goalkeeper, Keylor Navas, but not before Sergio Ramos timely tackle also denied Dybala a clear shot at goal.

At the end, Real were wonder of their goal and lead at half time, with the Old Ladys left with a lot to ponder about.

After the restart, it was Real who also started on the front foot, as Ronaldo almost doubled their lead but watched as his shot went narrowly wide.

But it wasn’t long before the away side were gifted an opportunity to double their lead, following a defensive mixup by Gianluigi Buffon and Giorgio Chiellini.

Dani Carvajal finds space on the right for a cross, which Ronaldo meets with an acrobatic kick for his 14th CL goal of the season.

From then on, it went from bad to worse for the host, as two minutes after going two goals down, they were reduced to ten men. Two yellow cards in the space of 20minutes saw Dybala given his marching orders.

With Juve a man down,  Zinedine Zidane’s men took advantage of their numerical superiority to put the tie beyond the sorry home side.

A brilliant interchange of passes from Real at the edge of Juve’s box sees Ronaldo turn provider, as a perfectly weighted through pass from the Portuguese finds Marcelo, who finishes with aplomb for Real’s third of the evening.

A forgettable night for the Italians, who were the better side on the night until that remarkable second goal by Ronaldo.

The win means Real have a foot firmly placed in the semifinals, for a record 13th time, while Juve 27-game unbeaten home record in Europe comes to a devastating end.

Bayern Come From Behind To Beat Sevilla

Elsewhere in the CL, Bayern Munich came from behind to beat Sevilla 2-1 to firmly put themselves in control of that tie.

Pablo Sarabia gave the home side a shock lead, before an own goal from Jesus Navas saw Bayern level at the break.

Thiago Alcantara’s sealed the win with his 68th minute strike, as the Bavarians become the first side to beat Sevilla at home in the competition this season

Full Results
Juventus 0-3 Real Madrid
Sevilla 1-2 Bayern