3. Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid vs Juventus, 2017

This game was a repeat of 1998 final and the Juventus team were ready to play their hearts out to secure their first UCL trophy since 1996. Not for the first time in Gianluigi Buffon’s career, it was CR7 who stood between him and that elusive European glory.
Ronaldo was breathing fire coming into this UCL final. In the quarterfinals, he had scored a brace and a hattrick against Bayern Munich and then followed it up with yet another brilliant hattrick against Atletico Madrid in the away leg of the semi-final. His ability to score against big clubs in high-pressure games has been the hallmark of a truly illustrious career and this time too he did not disappoint anybody.
20 minutes into the game, he received the ball at the edge of the box and played it out to Carvajal on the right flank and made a little run into the box. Carvajal returned the favor with a neat pass back to Ronaldo who somehow deposited the ball into the left corner despite two defenders covering that space. The second goal was great anticipation from CR7 as he suddenly burst into a run inside the box to receive the pass from Luka Modric and diverted it into the net. In the end, Real Madrid cruised to a 4-1 victory and lifted their 12th UCL trophy.