Jude Bellingham has priceless reaction to Federico Valverde’s ‘Puskas contender’ as Real Madrid star matches Lionel Messi feat

Federico Valverde may have won himself the Puskas Award against Manchester City with a remarkable goal on Wednesday night.

The Real Madrid midfielder emulated Lionel Messi at the exact same time, scoring a first-half hat-trick in the Champions League.

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Man City‘s start to the first leg of their last 16 tie in Madrid couldn’t have started much worse, with Valverde putting them to the world spectacularly.

He scored his opening goal after 20 minutes, rounding City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to tap into an empty net.

Then, just seven minutes later, he superbly fired into the bottom corner past Donnarumma again to make it 2-0.

And Valverde saved the best until last, netting an incredible third goal in just 22 minutes to score his first career hat-trick.

The 27-year-old raced into the box and received a neat chipped pass from Brahim Diaz, meeting it with a perfect touch.

His first touch lifted the ball perfectly over Marc Guehi‘s head, before he ran onto it again and volleyed home before it touched the ground.

On the sumptuous hat-trick goal, talkSPORT’s Scott Minto said on commentary: “That is a world-class goal from a world-class player.

“Anyone who gets the chance to see this goal at any point in the future, please do… he’s running at pace, the first touch is perfect, over Guehi and enough for him to volley it in.

“It’s just an unbelievable goal… it’s three moments of genius from the same player.”

Host Adrian Durham then later added: “It’s a Puskas contender.”

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Valverde’s treble was all the match had to offer in terms of goals with the Bernabeu clash finishing 3-0, although the home side missed a glorious chance to get their fourth in the second half when Vinicius Jr had a penalty saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

On top of his potentially Puskas-winning strike, Valverde also joined a footballing icon with his first-half hat-trick.

He is just the second player to score a first-half hat-trick against an English opponent in the Champions League after Messi did so for Barcelona against Arsenal in April 2010.

Bellingham can’t believe it

Not only were talkSPORT’s commentary team in awe of Valverde’s third goal, but his injured teammate Jude Bellingham was too.

Bellingham, who is sidelined due to a hamstring injury picked up not long after undergoing shoulder surgery, was left with his mouth wide open as he watched a replay.

His eyes widened and he was left in disbelief as he clapped into the air whilst watching on before making a praise gesture.

Man City slammed

After Valverde’s hat-trick, Durham then went on a half-time rant about Man City’s performance that saw them go 3-0 down.

He brutally summarised on-air: “Marc Guehi, ordinary, he just stands out of the way for that third goal.

“Antoine Semenyo, out of his depth, has offered nothing.

“O’Reilly’s doing a Kinsky, Doku and Savinho, we highlighted it before, they are no threat whatsoever…Man City have been truly terrible.”

Pep Guardiola‘s side went on to lose the first leg 3-0 and they have a mountain to climb in the second leg back in Manchester, which will be live on talkSPORT next Tuesday.