WATCH: Cristiano Ronaldo Hat Trick Sparks Juventus' UCL Comeback vs. Atletico Madrid
Juventus acquired Cristiano Ronaldo with the hopes of winning the Champions League, and the star put the club on his back to help it stave off its earliest exit in three years.
Juventus entered the second leg of the round of 16 trailing Atletico Madrid 2-0 on aggregate, but a Ronaldo hat trick in Turin sent Juventus through to the quarterfinals, with the Portuguese star accounting for all the scoring in a 3-0 second-leg victory.
Atletico Madrid hadn't conceded in five straight matches entering Tuesday and has only given up 17 goals all season long in La Liga, but it had no answer for Ronaldo, who padded his sparkling Champions League resume with another performance for the ages.
Juventus, predictably, came out looking to pressure immediately, and within 25 seconds, Blaise Matuidi got down to the end line and cut back a cross, only for Atletico Madrid to clear the damage cleanly. Matuidi had another opportunity in the third minute, steering a chance that was going to test Jan Oblak in goal, only for Diego Godin to come up with the block before it could do any damage.
Juventus had a goal taken off the board in the fourth minute in controversial fashion. Giorgio Chiellini thought he'd scored a goal, but Ronaldo was whistled for fouling Oblak as both went for a rebound in the moment preceding it, and the VAR upheld referee Bjorn Kuipers' call to keep the match 0-0.
Juventus continued to pepper Atletico Madrid's defense, dominating possession and firing in cross after cross until Atleti was finally able to alleviate some of the pressure in the 20th minute, breaking forward on the counter before smartly slowing the tempo to take some air out of the ball.
Juventus restored its control over the game soon after, though, and finally got the opening goal it was seeking. It came, naturally, from Ronaldo, his 23rd goal all-time against Atletico Madrid in 32 matches. The Portuguese star out-jumped Juanfran for Federico Bernardeschi's cross to the far post and powered his header by Oblak to make it 1-0 on the day and reduce Atletico Madrid's aggregate edge to 2-1.
Bernardeschi then came close on two would-be-incredible goals, first on a more standard free kick, then on an audacious bicycle kick attempt, one that would've made Ronaldo proud had it gone in.
It was then Ronaldo's turn to come close, nearly replicating his earlier effort but leaping over Juanfran only to put his header wide of the mark.
Ronaldo brought Juventus all the way back four minutes into the second half. What appeared to be a sensational, acrobatic save from Oblak on Ronaldo's header off Joao Cancelo's cross wound up being a goal given by goal-line technology, with the ball just narrowly crossing the line before Oblak could swat it out.
The match settled into a less fluid display in the half an hour that followed. Juventus brought Paulo Dybala off the bench, effectively going with four forwards in trying to decide the tie in regulation, while Atletico Madrid continued to struggle to create anything moving forward.
Moise Kean nearly settled it in the 82nd minute, getting in behind after a Chiellini ball was headed backwards, but the 19-year-old substitute put his left-footed chance inches wide of the far post.
The go-ahead goal came a few minutes later, and it came from Ronaldo. Bernardeschi earned a questionable penatly, going down in the box under what appeared to be minimal (if any) contact in the 84th minute, and Ronaldo finished off his hat trick from the spot, giving Juventus a 3-0 lead on the day and a 3-2 lead on aggregate.
Here were the lineups for both sides:
The Champions League round of 16 finishes Wednesday, with Barcelona vs. Lyon and Bayern Munich vs. Liverpool determining the final two places in the quarterfinals. The draw for the final eight will be held on Friday.
