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Last night, Juventus managed to pull of a stunning comeback against Spanish club Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, that saw Cristiano Ronaldo score a stunning hat-trick against his former Madrid rivals.
Although Ronaldo is no longer at Real Madrid, he has played Atletico many times in the past, often producing stunning performances against them.
Since the 2016/2017 season, Ronaldo has scored a ridiculous four hat-tricks against Atletico Madrid, and did so again last time, this time for Juventus. And by so doing he helped his team advance to the quarter finals.
In typical Ronaldo fashion, when his team needs him most he delivers, and that's exactly what he did against Atletico.
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Although the victory was a sweet one for Ronaldo, there was more to the match than just that. During his personal onslaught against Atletico Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo set a number of records in the match.
#4 First player to reach 125 goals in the Champions League
Before the game started, Ronaldo had scored 122 goals in the Champions League, including one goal scored during a qualification match. By the end of it, however, he stood proudly as the first player to ever score 125 goals in the history of the Champions League.
Having started quite poorly by his won standards in the Champions League, questions were asked as to whether Ronaldo's powers were beginning to diminish.
These questions have evidently done little to fill the Juventus talisman with doubts, and his poor form in the group stages has been cast in the shadow by his hat-trick performance against Atletico.
Reaching 125 goals is a frightening achievement, and if he does decide to keep playing for many years to come, it wouldn't be improbable to see him break the 150 goal mark before he hangs up his boots.
#3 First player to score two hat-tricks against one team
Scoring a hat trick is one the great achievements that a forward can acquire; Ronaldo, however, makes this feat seem almost normal.
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored a staggering eight hat tricks during his career in the Champions League.
In scoring a hat trick against Atletico Madrid last night, Ronaldo set another goal scoring record in Europe's elite club competition.
Having scored a memorable hat trick against Atletico in the semi finals of the 2016/17 season as well as the one he scored last night, Ronaldo becomes the first player to score two hat tricks against the same club in the Champions League.
What's most impressive about this feat is that, firstly, he has done this whilst playing at two separate clubs, and secondly, the calibre of opponent he has done this against.
It is one thing to be able to score hat tricks against lesser oppositions, especially when you're arguably the greatest goalscorer ever, but to be able to consistently do it against the best teams in the world is another thing entirely.
#2 Most headers scored in the Champions League era
Although Ronaldo is a highly versatile player, famed for his iconic knuckle ball free kicks, dazzling skill, blistering pace, shot power, and movement, his heading ability is right up there with the very best.
Cristiano Ronaldo's jumping ability is frankly absurd and it is often cited as being able to jump higher than the average NBA basketball player.
His ability to not only jump higher than all other players isn't the only thing impressive about his heading prowess, but also his fearlessness to head the ball where others would be too scared to.
Two of Ronaldo's goals against Atletico Madrid last night came from headers, with the third coming from a penalty.
In scoring his second goal to level the tie, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score 22 headed goals in the Champions League era.
Although Ronaldo possesses virtually every Champions League record in the book, he will certainly not complain about adding this one to his collection.
This is a sweet record as it shows why he is often regarded as the greatest goalscorer ever, because not only does he score all the time, but the diversity of goals he produces is unsurpassed by anyone.
#1 Most hat-tricks in Champions League history (joint record)
At the start of the season, both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo sat on seven hat tricks each in the Champions League. This meant that they were the joint record holders for most hat tricks scored in the history of the competition.
However, in scoring a hat trick in the group stages against PSV Eindhoven, Lionel Messi stood alone on seven hat tricks, to Ronaldo's seven.
When Juventus looked like they would be crashing out of the Champions League to Atletico, it looked as though Messi would be holding onto this record for at least the whole season.
Ronaldo had other ideas however, and in scoring three past Atletico Madrid, he levelled their tallies once again.
Interestingly, Ronaldo has never held this record alone, and has always had to settle for joint ownership with Messi, and with many more ties left to play in the Champions League this season, it will be interesting to see if he can manage to achieve this.
