MADRID, May 2 -- Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid took a huge strike towards qualifying for their second Champions League final in two years as they defeated Atletico Madrid 3-0 in the first leg of their semi-final in the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night.

Although the second leg still has to be played in Atletico' s Vicente Calderon next week, it is hard to imagine Atletico coming back from this defeat, much less after seeing how they only created one significant chance in 90 difficult minutes in the Bernabeu.

As expected Isco took Gareth Bale's place in the Real Madrid staring 11 and gave them extra depth and mobility in midfield, while left footed central defender, Lucas Hernandez was given the difficult job of playing at right back for Atletico.

Real Madrid started the stronger of the two sides and had Atletico on the back foot in the first half. Karim Benzema almost scrambled the ball home after just six minutes, before Cristiano Ronaldo headed Real ahead after 9 minutes.

The striker headed home a Dani Carvajal cross, although replays showed he had been clearly offside in the buildup to the goal.

Atletico were struggling as Real pressured them high up the field and Jan Oblak had to respond well to keep out a Rafael Varene header and to deny Isco.

A rare Atletico break saw Keylor Navas react well to deny Kevin Gameiro, who had latched onto a Koke through ball, but the majority of the chances were for the home side as both Luka Modric and Benzema went close to doubling their lead before halftime.

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