Tom Masters
Mar 12, 2026, 09:53 AM
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Manchester City's prolific striker Erling Haaland is used to leaving Champions League nights with the match ball but in the round of 16 tie with Real Madrid, he was a passenger.
Haaland watched on as Los Blancos midfielder Fede Valverde scored a hat trick, notching three goals in a blistering 22-minute period before half-time.
That left Manchester City on the brink of elimination and but for a Gianluigi Donnarumma penalty save, it would have been even worse. But this was not just a 3-0 defeat, it was a night in which records were broken by both sides and for hugely differing reasons.
It was just the second time in Haaland's career that he has not recorded a shot and his first since March 2020, when he failed to do so against PSG with Borussia Dortmund.
Erling Haaland endured a difficult evening in Madrid. Angel Martinez/Getty Images
That is now the third time in 2026 that the Norwegian has not got a shot away in a competitive match, having previously only done so four times in three-and-a-half years at the Etihad Stadium.
Generally Haaland does not get too many touches anyway, that is the nature of his game as the striker who stays between the box, but at the Bernabeu on Wedesday, he took that to new levels.
In his 82 minutes on the field, Haaland touched the ball only 10 times, which is tied for his fewest in a Champions League start.
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On a night where Manchester City and Haaland were the very obvious losers, there was also a very clear winner, with Valverde in particular having a game to remember.
He became the first Real Madrid midfielder to score a Champions League hat trick and the fifth overall player after Cristiano Ronaldo (three), Karim Benzema (two), Ronaldo Nazario and Kylian Mbappé.
And while it was a rare night for Haaland not to be involved in the goals, it was an even rarer night for Valverde to score as much as he did.
In the first half against City, the Uruguayan scored as many goals as he had in 75 previous appearances in the Champions League.
Fede Valverde scored all three of Real Madrid's goals in their 3-0 win over City. Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images
He is also only the second player to score a first half hat trick against English opposition in the Champions League, following in the footsteps of Lionel Messi, who did so for Barcelona against Arsenal in April 2010.
Valverde could not quite score the perfect hat trick (a goal with your right foot, left foot and a header) but he did muster goals with both feet.
That made him the first Real Madrid player to do so in one game since Mbappé last season, which also came against City as Los Blancos won 3-1.
The stats were not all rosy for Madrid though, with Vinícius Júnior failing to score his last two penalties in the knockout stages of the Champions League, also missing against Atletico Madrid in the round of 16 last season.