Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after completing a hat-trick against Shakhtar Donetsk at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, yesterday. - AP

MADRID (AP):

Cristiano Ronaldo continued his impressive run by scoring a hat-trick in Real Madrid's 4-0 win over 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk in Group A of the Champions League yesterday.

After a five-goal performance in the Spanish league on the weekend, Ronaldo converted penalty kicks in the 55th and 63rd minutes, and then scored with a header in the 81st to take his Champions League tally to 80 goals. He leads Lionel Messi by three goals atop the leading scorer's list in the competition.

Karim Benzema opened the scoring after a goalkeeping blunder in the 30th following a difficult start for Madrid.

Shakhtar played a man down from 51st after defender Taras Stepanenko was sent off with a second yellow card for a bad sliding tackle on Sergio Ramos.

Madrid struggled early at the Santiago Bernabeu as Shakhtar tried to slow the pace to keep the home side from pressing forward.

Benzema finally broke the deadlock when goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov couldn't hang on to a weak centre cross inside the area, giving the striker an easy shot into the open net.