Valverde experiences a dream night in Real Madrid’s thrashing of …

By Samuel On Mar 12, 2026

Real Madrid captain scores first career hat-trick in 3-0 victory

It makes you want to ask: where has this Real Madrid been? After a balanced play-off against Benfica in the Champions League and modest victories in the league, interspersed with a couple of unexpected defeats, Los Blancos dispatched Manchester City (3-0) in the opening match of the Champions League round of 16, with a devastating first half from Federico Valverde, who scored a hat-trick. And Vinicius even missed a penalty!

Valverde’s dream night began to take shape in the 20th minute when, played through by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, he left O’Reilly behind, rounded Gigi Donnarumma and made it 1-0.

Shortly after, Vinicius found the Uruguayan between O’Reilly and Marc Guehi (what a nightmare at the Bernabéu for this duo…), who extended Real Madrid’s lead with a low, cross-shot.

The highlight of the night came just before halftime, when Valverde, brilliantly set up by Brahim Díaz, chipped the ball over Guehi and fired it past Donnarumma to make it 3-0.

The game was decided in the first half, and in the second half Manchester City, with Rúben Dias and Bernardo Silva in the starting eleven, could do little to at least mitigate the damage, considering the second leg.

In fact, it was Real Madrid who came closest to scoring again, in the 58th minute, when Vinicius Júnior saw Donnarumma save a penalty awarded precisely for a foul by the Italian goalkeeper on the Brazilian forward in the English penalty area.

On the 17th of this month there’s another match, but at the Etihad Stadium, where Manchester City will be looking to overturn a tie that seems to be going well for Real Madrid.

Valverde experiences a dream night