Ronaldo nets hat trick as Real Madrid fights back to eliminate Wolfsburg

Real Madrid needed at least three goals to reach the next round of the Champions League.

Enter Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese hero scored a hat trick Tuesday to erase a 2-0 deficit from the first leg of this quarter-final tie against Wolfsburg and send Madrid into the semi-finals for a sixth consecutive year.

Madrid joins Barcelona and Manchester United as the only three teams in the competition's history to fight back from an away loss of that magnitude.

Here are three takeaways from the 3-0 victory:

Ronaldo is Madrid's Champions League muse

Ronaldo set the comeback in motion in the space of two minutes, tapping home a fortuitous deflection before heading in the crucial second goal off a corner kick.

Simply put, if Madrid has any chance of winning games in Europe, it's Ronaldo who has to deliver. He's responsible for 77 percent of his club's goals in this year's Champions League, according to Opta, and it's not a coincidence that Los Blancos took just one win out of the three European matches in which he didn't score.

The Portuguese didn't even need many chances to level matters, proving he is one of the greatest finishers in the game today:

And of course, he wasn't done. Ronaldo struck an inch-perfect free-kick in the 77th minute to break the defensive wall and complete the comeback.

It amounts to his fifth Champions League hat-trick - just as many as Lionel Messi - and it gives him 16 goals in the tournament this year. Even Messi has yet to surpass the 14-goal mark in a single European campaign. Ronaldo has done it twice.

"For those who doubted Ronaldo, he has vindicated himself again," captain Sergio Ramos said afterwards. "We need him."

Loss of Draxler hurt Wolfsburg

Julian Draxler proved a thorn in the side of Madrid last week when he embarrassed Danilo time and again on the left flank.

Things were a lot different in Spain. Zinedine Zidane corrected his error this time around and played Dani Carvajal, the much safer option, at the right-back position over Danilo.

In fact, it was Carvajal who set up the first goal. He jumped on a loose ball and sent a cross into the box that eluded Wolfsburg's defenders and found Ronaldo. The ball took a slight bobble, but it arrived, and so did Madrid.

Draxler, meanwhile, limped off the pitch after just 31 minutes with an injury. Just when the 22-year-old began to grow into the game, he could no longer continue.

To its credit, Wolfsburg continued to press for a goal. Midfielder Luiz Gustavo saw his long-range effort tipped over the net by the remarkable Keylor Navas, and Bruno Henrique also botched a chance from just 10 metres out.

But Los Blancos proved too much to overcome at home.

Bernabeu is still one of Europe's cauldrons

Madrid has won all five of its home matches this term in the Champions League by a combined score of 18-0.

At times, the Bernabeu crowd can turn even on the likes of Ronaldo, who was whistled earlier this season. But it can also produce an utterly impossible atmosphere for opponents to deal with.

"It was sensational, from the first minute to the last. When the fans really get behind the team they are like another player. The team played with all its spirit," added Ramos.

This game technically wasn't a sellout, but the supporters never doubted that the home side would prevail. Before the evening started in earnest, the fans unfurled a large banner. The target: Milan, the host city of the final.