Juventus star hailed a ‘living football god’ by Rio Ferdinand after stunning Champions League hat-trick

Rio Ferdinand hailed his former Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo a “residing soccer God” after the Juventus star hit a sensational hat-trick against Atletico Madrid within the Champions League.

The Italian giants had a two-goal deficit to overturn following their last-16 first-leg defeat on the Wanda Metropolitano three weeks in the past, advancing to the quarter-finals of the competition because of Ronaldo after a 3-Zero win.

Forward of the crunch conflict, Ronaldo had reportedly promised to hit a treble within the second leg to finish the capital metropolis membership’s European goals for an additional 12 months – and that he did.

BT Sport pundit Ferdinand, who performed alongside the Portuguese star for six years at Previous Trafford, described his efficiency as godlike after the full-time whistle.

“He’s a residing soccer god,” stated Ferdinand. “It’s ridiculous what he’s doing.

“All of the information – within the Champions League, he’s bought each document you possibly can think about. He’s joint most hat-tricks with Messi.

“This goal (first goal) is like Duncan Ferguson in his prime, attacking the ball, leaving the full back in a heap, that’s what you call desire.”

The former Real Madrid man opened the scoring with a powerful header in the first half, underlining his salmon-like leaping skills as he got the better of full-back Juanfran.

He then pulled his side level on aggregate with another header after the break, this time goalkeeper Jan Oblak had clawed the ball away – but goal-line technology intervened and confirmed the ball had crossed the line.

A memorable night for the five-time Champions League winner was rounded off with just a little over 5 minutes remaining, because the 34-year-old stepped as much as hearth residence a penalty in emphatic vogue after Federico Bernardeschi was fouled within the penalty space.