Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates his second goal during their Champions League soccer match against Shakhtar Donetsk at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, September 15, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

MADRID - Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo surged three goals clear of Lionel Messi as the all-time Champions League top scorer with a hat-trick in a 4-0 drubbing of 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk in their Group A opener on Tuesday.

Portugal captain Ronaldo scored twice from the penalty spot in the second half and added a header nine minutes from time to take his tally in Europe's elite club competition to 80 goals, three more than Barcelona forward Messi.

A howler from Shakhtar keeper Andriy Pyatov let in Karim Benzema for the opener on the half-hour before the visitors were reduced to 10 men five minutes after the break when Taras Stepanenko hacked down Sergio Ramos and was shown a second yellow card.

Real doubled their lead after Ronaldo's shot hit Shakhtar captain Darijo Srna on the back in the 54th and the referee inexplicably gave a penalty and the Portuguese netted another spot kick nine minutes later after Marcio Azevedo handled.

Ronaldo, who put five past Espanyol in La Liga on Saturday, completed his hat-trick at the Bernabeu when he followed up a saved Marcelo effort to set a Spanish record of 33 trebles, one more than Messi.

The victory gave new Real coach Rafa Benitez a winning debut for the capital club in the competition but came at a cost as their Wales winger Gareth Bale limped off midway through the first half with a calf problem.

Centre backs Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos were also substituted with knocks and Benitez said the trio would have tests to determine the seriousness of the injuries.