Valverde, Real’s ever versatile Little Bird, goes on a flight of pure fantasy | Sid Lowe

Fede Valverde made his way down the tunnel at the Santiago Bernabéu wearing the captain’s armband and the No 8 shirt Toni Kroos had wanted him to have. He carried the pennant commemorating what was going to be the match of his life, touched palms with the kids in the sponsored shirts that lined the route on right and left, and then stepped out into the light.

When he headed back inside again 45 minutes later, the first off the pitch at half-time, he paused briefly and clenched his fist, which was a pretty low‑key reaction considering what he had just done.

What he had just done was barely believable, genuinely one of the most absurd performances this place has seen and, boy, has it seen some absurd performances. On the tunnel wall is a slogan from Alfredo Di Stéfano: it says that no player is as good as all the players put together. That is true of course, but it had been tested here, and not just because Valverde sometimes seems to be all the players put together, a man with four lungs and three first-half goals, all of them brilliant.

Here Valverde had been the auxiliary right-back that protected them during 20 minutes when Madrid, and Trent Alexander‑Arnold, had appeared overrun. Then he was the 7, the 8, the 9 and the 10 who scored the outrageous a 22-minute hat-trick that left Manchester City sunk by a familiar feeling. And at the very end he was back at right-back again, somehow relieving the tension with one last tackle that was as much a portrait of him as the goals had been, securing a clean sheet to go with the three goals, victory theirs. Victory his, above all.

The last to go down the tunnel this time, called to collect his award for man of the match, Valverde eventually left the field he had covered so comprehensively a little after 11 o’clock, by which time the stands had emptied and a couple of lawnmowers went up and down. He did so carrying the match ball, too. Waiting for him was the club’s honorary president, José Martínez, “Pirri”, who was celebrating his 81st birthday – and who is the only other midfielder to score a European Cup hat-trick for the competition’s dominant team, the club that seem resurrected every time it comes round.

This had been unexpected. Except, perhaps, by them. “This shows that we are Real Madrid and you should never give us up for dead,” said the coach Álvaro Arbeloa, who called his captain a “21st‑century Juanito” – the late, loved striker who was Madrid’s patron saint of the impossible. This had been Valverde’s “magical night”, Arbeloa said.

That was one word for it and there are many more. There will be many more over the next hours and days – for a long way into the future in fact – and many won’t do him justice to what he did. “I’ve run out of words: he’s the most underrated footballer on the planet and has been for years,” Alexander‑Arnold said.

Yet perhaps the most eloquent “comment” came from Madrid’s other Englishman, who didn’t say anything at all. After Valverde’s third goal, Jude Bellingham’s reaction was everyone’s: up in a glass-fronted box, his mouth fell open, held there in a big O of disbelief, and then he just started laughing.

In a different box near the north end, Kylian Mbappé clambered over a seat roaring, while the man to his left waggled his fingers as if he had caught them in a drawer. Another camera caught Valverde blowing out his cheeks, bloody hell. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Only in this competition, in this stadium, what’s not supposed to happen is exactly what’s supposed to happen, especially against City.

The goal was superb, Brahim Díaz’s scooped ball seeing Valverde nudge over Marc Guéhi and volley past Gianluigi Donnarumma, a hint of Bergkamp to it, yet it might not even have been the best.

The second wasn’t bad either, taken in his stride with his right and struck hard and low with his left. And the first might have been even better, the night and the hat‑trick starting with the knowledge that City would press goal‑kicks.

Thibaut Courtois played an exceptional long diagonal to the right touchline where, with one touch and on the bounce, Valverde controlled and guided it past Nico O’Reilly, who should have taken him down. The kid they had called the Little Bird was flying now, all the way to the area where, with Donnarumma bafflingly withdrawing his hand, he went past the keeper to score.

Three touches, 100 yards and Madrid had a lead that would prove unassailable, not just here but possibly over the whole tie, a team and their captain revived. This hasn’t been an easy season for Valverde; one in which he had expressed his displeasure at playing at right‑back – even if he is still the best Madrid have – had to deny refusing to play at FC Kairat, and had been whistled and met with white hankies by Madrid’s protesting fans.

He had stood accused for Madrid’s collapse before, now he stood taller than anyone, leading their revival. “It’s been a long time since I enjoyed a night like this,” he said, speaking for everyone.