Champions League: How Ronaldo and Real Madrid destroyed Atletico Madrid at the Bernabeau

Florentino Perez made an appearance in the morning training session at Valdebebas to congratulate Cristiano Ronaldo with a custom made Real Madrid jersey with 400 written at the back of it. The Portuguese talisman scored his 400th goal (although FIFA awarded the controversial goal to Pepe, which Real Madrid adjudged to Cristiano) for Los Blancos, with his hat-trick against cross-town rivals Atletico Madrid at the second biggest stage of club football, to hand his club a realistic chance of walking down the pitch at the biggest stage in Cardiff on June 3.

Another magical Champions League night at the Santiago Bernabeau and once again Cristiano was the show-stopper to virtually bring the curtains down on Atletico's Champions League campaign.

It might be Cristiano's big night but to be honest it was one-way traffic right from kick-off. Zinedine Zidane was outfoxed by Diego Simeone during their last meeting at the Bernabeau, when a late goal from Antoine Griezmann stole two vital points from Real, splitting the La Liga  title race wide open.

Within a month's time, Atletico visits again their Champions League nemesis and this time they are magisterially outplayed in every department. It's not that Atletico tried anything different which led to their downfall, but it was Madrid who executed their game-plan to perfection.

Atletico pressed high, they crowded the midfield with at least five bodies and Godin and Savic played their customary high line. Normally, Simeone's secret ingredient for this Atletico side is unadulterated aggression but Atletico appeared uncharacteristically mellow. 

They went for aerial duels, they went for tackles right at the midfield but somehow Real managed to skip past everything and the supply line remained steady.

How did they do it?

It's not rocket science that this Real Madrid side has that quality which Atletico can never match even on their best day. But, during Simeone's reign Madrid was not only harassed but they were even humiliated at the Vicente Calderon with a 4-0 drubbing. There was not even an iota of 'intensity' the previous night in Atletico's game-play which they showed in that game or even in the previous two Champions League finals at Lisbon and Milan. Whereas, Madrid passed the ball with a frenetic pace among them. Although on paper, Madrid went for a diamond formation with a back four and Ronaldo and Benzema on top but throughout the match except the back-line and Benzema no Madrid player stuck to his position.

Isco roamed in the attacking third like a free agent with absolutely no restriction to move up and down the pitch. He swapped wings when Ronaldo decided to move to the right, he came down to defend when either Marcelo or Carvajal transformed themselves to a high-flying winger.

Simeone's men were at their wit's end on how to mark Isco.  Gabi and Saul could have marked him, but they were trusted with the responsibility to keep a check on Modric and Kroos. Isco's freedom in movement meant that Madrid had a spare white shirt to attack the ball whenever Atletico gained possession. Moreover, Isco's ability for dynamic ball circulation opening up opposition midfield meant that in spite of Atletico crowding the mid-field Madrid was never outplayed and Cristaino and Benzema continued to get balls. 

Madrid played a near perfect game in the first half. Filipe Luis went further wide to stop Carvajal from advancing, and Yanick Carrasco then shifted a bit inside. This completely rendered Carrasco useless. His natural game is to run down the flank with pace and power before cutting back inside to the waiting no.9 within the 18 yard box. But he was not only caught out of position while Carvajal ran down his flank but could not make an impact as he shifted more inside due to Casemiro's ever vigilant marshalling of the defensive mid-field. 

Benzema had a mixed game. His failure to convert the chance just because of his lack of awareness within the first five minutes when he just had to push the ball into an open net is bound to irk any manager. His exceptional scissor kick was whiskers away from bulging the net. He continued to drop down and played the role of an usual retreating striker to disorganise Atletico's tactic of high line defense. He latched on to the ball to perfection and brushed away Godin like a school kid, before releasing it for Ronaldo who slotted it on the volley with a technique which only he can master.

If Isco was the engine then Modric was the engine oil whose dynamic versatility both in attack and defense set the tempo of the match as Madrid dictated proceedings. He ignited every attacking move and drew players towards him to create acres of spaces behind Atletico's mid-field for Isco, Ronaldo and Benzema to easily manoeuvre in the attacking third. 

Lucas Hernandez had a horrid game against the double spear of Ronaldo and Marcelo. He was put  out of position by Simeone to fill up the vacancies at the left back but his display only reminded of a helpless Rafael of Manchester United who had the ill-fortune to go up against Ronaldo at the Bernabeu during the quarter-final clash between Real Madrid and Manchester United during 2012-2013 season. 

Simeone's substitutions failed to make any impact in the game. Fernando Torres was roaming in oblivion as Griezmann was pocketed by Ramos throughout the game. After the first goal, Atletico moved out of their shell and created two chances. One was smothered by a fantastic save from Keylor Navas, who stopped an advancing Kevin Gameiro and the next was from an implementation of a training ground free-kick, which Godin blasted over the cross-bar. When Atletico went down by another goal, they went tooth and nail for a decisive away goal which left holes at the back. Asensio and Vasquez had already taken the pitch who not only initiated swift counters but ran their lungs out to further stretch a tired Atletico defense. The third goal was a typical product of Madrid counter attack with a perfect one-two between Vasquez and Ronaldo. 

Madrid had 17 shots with seven of them on target to Atletico's four and only one on target. Cristiano Ronaldo is in another one of his logic-defying form, where he has scored eight in three appearances. His concentrated play-making in and around the box with intelligent swapping of wings makes Madrid's attack not only potent to break down an astute defense like Atletico's but also more purposeful in the break. As Zidane said, the season is far from over and Madrid is yet to win a silverware, but if they produce such prodigious performances breaking down Brobdingnagian obstacles they might complete an historic double achieved last during the time of De Stefano .