Federico Valverde nets first-half hat-trick as Real Madrid overpower Man City

Federico Valverde scored a sensational first-half hat-trick as injury-hit Real Madrid overpowered Manchester City 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.

Much had been made of the Spanish giants’ lengthy casualty list for Wednesday’s clash against their familiar rivals at the Bernabeu, with the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo among the big-name absences.

Yet it merely provided the opportunity for captain Valverde to step up and the Uruguay midfielder ripped City apart with a clinical display of finishing.

He scored three goals in the space of 22 minutes and things might have been worse for Pep Guardiola’s side had Gianluigi Donnarumma not saved a second-half penalty from Vinicius Junior.

It rounded off a dismal two days for English sides in the Spanish capital after Tottenham’s 5-2 hammering by Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.

City, having gone into the tie as favourites, now face an uphill task in next week’s second leg at the Etihad Stadium.

The visitors actually started brightly and tried to take the game to Real.

Antoine Semenyo fired an early shot at Thibaut Courtois and the lively Jeremy Doku twice drove across the face of goal.

Nico O’Reilly also went close and Bernardo Silva volleyed wide as the visitors tried to exploit any perceived weakness in the Real side.

But the home side served warning as former City academy player Brahim Diaz forced a save from Donnarumma and it went unheeded.

The Premier League side were caught cold by a long ball from Courtois after 20 minutes which dropped over O’Reilly’s head and Valverde took it expertly in his stride.

He then glided past Donnarumma and finished brilliantly while off-balance from a tight angle.

City had barely had time to regroup