Valverde's hat trick dazzles as Madrid dump City

Federico Valverde's stellar first-half hat trick was the catalyst as Real Madrid eased past Manchester City 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 match Wednesday.

There was a feeling of uncertainty among Madrid fans at the Santiago Bernabéu before Wednesday's game with City. The Spanish giants have a new and untested coach, recently lost two league games in a row and last weekend required a last-minute deflection to beat Celta Vigo.

But Valverde's sublime triple put the home team in the driver's seat for this much-awaited last-16 tie, becoming the first Uruguay player to score a hat trick in the Champions League.

"It's incredible, you always dream of nights like this," Valverde said after the match. "I want to thank my teammates who give me the confidence I needed to stay positive, the coaching staff and everyone who supports us, even though it's been a difficult season.

"I really enjoyed myself today. It had been a while since I enjoyed a match like this."

Valverde completed a quick counterattack and rounded goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma with a deft touch to score the opener after 20 minutes.

He ran on to a pass from Vinícius Júnior and then fired home a low shot with his weaker left foot seven minutes later to make it 2-0.

Valverde saved the best for last, taking Brahim Díaz's clever chip and then knocking it over the outstretched leg of Marc Guéhi before volleying past Donnarumma to make it 3-0 three minutes before halftime.

Vinícius missed a second-half penalty to extend the lead, but the damage was done and Madrid cruised to the final whistle with City only giving them a little trouble over the course of the 90 minutes.

The two teams will meet again Tuesday for the second leg in Manchester, with Pep Guardiola's side having plenty to do if it hopes to turn the tie around.

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

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 Jérémy 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 Díaz 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 before Valverde doubled his tally seven minutes later.

Valverde might have got lucky as a Vinícius pass deflected into his path, but there was nothing fortunate about his touch as he set himself to drive a low left-footed shot beyond Donnarumma.

Valverde completed his brilliant treble before the break as City were again cut open on the counter, this time by Vinicius.

The ball reached Díaz, who cleverly lobbed Rúben Dias for Valverde to flick past Marc Guéhi and smash home a volley for a truly memorable Champions League goal.

"I try to get forward. That's what the coach asks of me, to attack," Valverde added. "Today we had more players to control the ball, so I tried to attack more, and they gave me some incredible passes.

"We had practiced quite a bit how they would press man-to-man from goal kicks. We're quick up front, and we took advantage of that.

"If we work together, we can achieve great things."

City left the field shocked and things threatened to get ugly after the restart as Díaz tested Donnarumma following a mazy run.

Semenyo did force a save from Courtois at the other end, but a long ball from deep sent Vinícius racing into the area where he was brought down by Donnarumma.

The goalkeeper was booked and, much to City's relief, guessed correctly to push away Vinicius' resulting spot kick to his left.

Yet the Madrid attacks kept coming with Arda Güler and Vinícius shooting narrowly wide.

City did not give up hope and Erling Haaland might have scored but for a vital touch by Antonio Rüdiger, while O'Reilly was denied by the feet of Courtois.

Information from The Associated Press and PA was used in this recap.