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MADRID. — Hat-trick hero Cristiano Ronaldo heaped praise on manager Zinedine Zidane as Real Madrid turned round a two-goal deficit against VFL Wolfsburg on a “magical night” in the Champions League soccer on Tuesday.
Trailing 2-0 from the first leg in Germany, Los Blancos entered a boisterous Santiago Bernabeu determined to give the home crowd something to cheer and struck twice in the opening 17 minutes to wipe out the away side’s aggregate lead.
Ronaldo nabbed both of those, and the 31-year-old took his European tally to 93 with a second-half free kick, to secure Madrid’s place in the last four for the sixth successive season.
And while the Portuguese star was happy to take centre stage with his goals, he elected to send praise elsewhere, praising his teammates, his manager and the club’s supporters.
“I love working with Zidane,” said Ronaldo after his latest goalscoring super-show.
“I love his personality and the way he manages us. I’m very happy.
“Just because I scored three goals today it doesn’t mean it’s my best game. I’m very happy about the goals, but the important thing is the team.
“The fans have been sensational tonight. We have taken an important step.
“It was a perfect night. I said it would be a magical night, and it was.”
Ronaldo’s treble took him to a staggering 46 goals in 42 games this season — including 16 in 10 Champions League matches.
And Ronaldo, whose latest treble was his 37th for the Spanish giants, took aim at the Spanish press: “I work a lot. Goals, assists, and victories come naturally. When you work, God repays you.”
“The media says I’m having a bad season, but just look at my numbers. Not bad eh?”
Ronaldo has now struck 46 goals in all competitions this season, meaning he has 45 or more in each of his last six seasons for Madrid.
“Goals are in my DNA and I want to keep scoring them for the team,” he added.
However, the three-time World Player of the Year had still received criticism earlier in the campaign for not performing in Real’s biggest games as Barcelona rival Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or to crown the world’s best player in January.
Yet, having also scored the winner in El Clasico against Barca just 10 days ago, Ronaldo was quick to turn on his critics.
“Considering this has been a bad season for me it has not been that bad.
“People can criticise me, but I just keep on going and the numbers are there for all to see.
“I am very happy and with a month left of the season I can get even better.”
Meanwhile, Ronaldo’s teammate, Gareth Bale, is eyeing a winning run between now and the end of the season, to put Real in with a chance of both success in the Champions League and La Liga.
They currently sit third in Spain, four points off league leaders Barcelona – but having seen their bitter rivals lose two on the bounce.
And Bale, still working his way back to full fitness, says that the capital club will be doing their very best to make sure they can take full advantage of any slip up from the reigning European champions.
“As I said after the Barcelona game, a loss always creates a doubt in the team for them and hopefully that’s the case,” said Bale, speaking to BT Sport.
“All we can do is concentrate on ourselves and try and win every game and see where that takes us.
“We won at the weekend and we won tonight. Hopefully we keep on winning until the end of the season.”
Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane hailed his side’s collective effort, but reserved special praise for Ronaldo, who became the first player to score three hat-tricks in the competition in one season as he took his Champions League tally for the campaign to 15.
“He is showing what he is, which is the best player in the world,” said Zidane.
“Cristiano needs the whole team, I want to speak about the team because they achieved this together.
“But he is special because not everyone is capable of scoring three goals.”
Despite a history littered with famous European fightbacks at the Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid hadn’t managed to overcome a first leg deficit in their previous eight attempts dating back 14 years to when Zidane played for the club. — AFP.
Online Reporter