Wednesday in their Champions League playoff second leg at a noisy Santiago Bernabeu stadium, Real Madrid defeated Manchester City 3-1 with a Kylian Mbappe hat-trick, therefore obtaining a 6-3 aggregate victory and a spot in the last 16.
Seeking a record-extending 16th title, last year’s champions will meet either Bayer Leverkusen or city rivals Atletico Madrid, depending on Friday’s draw.
With Real’s first attack in the fourth minute, Mbappe started the scoring by capitalizing on another major blunder City’s defense made when captain Ruben Dias missed his header and left the French forward free to lob over the onrushing Ederson.
After a devastating cutback leaving defender Josky Gvardiol on the ground, Mbappe scored once more in the 33rd minute with a close-range effort.
Real kept mounting the pressure and squandering opportunities against Pep Guardiola’s faltering squad. Mbappe’s third came in the 61st minute from the edge of the box barely inside Ederson’s right post with a left-footed drive.
Although it hardly tarnished a great night for the Spaniards, Manchester City got a compensation goal at the death when Nico Gonzalez converted a rebound when Omar Marmoush’s free kick bounced against the crossbar.
