Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid eased to a 3-1 win over Manchester City to complete a double on the struggling Premier League champions and qualify for the UEFA Champions League round of 16.
Real Madrid came into the tie leading 3-2 from the first leg and never looked in danger of losing that lead on Wednesday night at the Bernabeu, especially after Mbappe found the breakthrough after just four minutes of the second leg in Spain.
Raul Asencio played a ball over the top to evade the City defence and find Mbappe, who composed himself before lobbing Ederson to put Los Blancos ahead and leave the visitors trying to regroup after an early setback.
It went from bad to worse for City as defender, John Stones, was forced off after only seven minutes of the match with an injury. The England international was replaced by Nathan Ake.
Real Madrid compounded City’s misery by doubling the advantage just after the half-hour mark, with Mbappe getting on the end of a neat move involving Bellingham, Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo, cutting inside to displace Josko Gvardiol before slotting past Ederson to score his second of the night.
City were struggling to have any foothold in the match and Mbappe ensured the tie ended as a contest by completing his hat-trick on the hour mark, evading challenges from the visiting players before sending a strike into the bottom corner.
With the match looking safe, Madrid boss, Carlo Ancelotti, used the chance to rest some of his key players, taking Mbappe off to a standing ovation from the Bernabeu with 12 minutes to go. Dani Ceballos also went off for Eduardo Camavinga.
Aurelin Tchouameni, Fede Valverde and Vinicius also went off as City posed little threat for the rest of the encounter, only scoring a consolation goal through Nico Gonzalez in stoppage time as the reigning Champions League holders qualified for the round of 16 with a 6-3 aggregate win.
Real Madrid will now face one of Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen in the Round of 16, with the draws set to take place on Friday.
Elsewhere on Wednesday night, PSV Eindoven came from 2-1 down in the first leg to claim a 3-1 win over Juventus after extra-time to qualify for the last 16 draws where one of Arsenal or Inter Milan awaits.
Bundesliga side, Borussia Dortmund, also made the last 16 after a goalless draw at home to Sporting Lisbon to seal a 3-0 aggregate win. A two-legged round of 16 clash against Aston Villa or Lille LOSC awaits last season’s losing finalists.
PSG cruised to a 7-0 demolition of fellow Ligue 1 side, Brest to reach the last 16, setting a Champions League record for number of different goalscorers in one match (seven) while at it. The French champions will now face either Barcelona or Liverpool in the round of 16.