Ronaldo nets another hat-trick to put Real Madrid on brink of final

There's simply no stopping him right now.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his second consecutive Champions League hat-trick on Tuesday, the merciless Portuguese powering Real Madrid to a commanding 3-0 victory over city rival Atletico in the opening leg of what was expected to be a tight semi-final tie.

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Instead, it turned into a one-man show - as is so often the case at the Santiago Bernabeu - and as a result, Los Blancos now have one foot in the final of the competition for a second straight year.

Ronaldo beat Jan Oblak in the 10th minute to open the scoring, doubled the advantage with an absolute rocket in the 73rd minute, and as Atleti made the ill-advised decision to push forward in search of an away goal, he all but put the tie to bed with a calm finish in the 86th minute.

Barring some unforeseen comeback that would go down as one of the greatest moments in the history of the Vicente Calderon, Real Madrid will, for the fourth consecutive season, send its city foe packing from Europe's showpiece tournament.

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And Ronaldo is, once again, at the forefront.