Former England defender Rio Ferdinand said Joe Hart's performance in Manchester City's Champions League semi-final first leg against Real Madrid was Peter "Schmeichel-esque".

Hart made a number of crucial saves in the 0-0 draw at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, with the tie still in the balance heading into the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu next week. 

The England international's most spectacular save came late on when he denied Madrid defender Pepe from close-range. 

Ferdinand said that save was reminiscent of those former Manchester United keeper Peter Schmeichel used to pull off in his time at Old Trafford. 

"Joe Hart has to take huge credit with two fantastic saves," Ferdinand said on BT Sport.

"One of those was Schmeichel-esque. You need your goalkeeper to play well at this stage if you've any chance of going through [to the final] and confidence is brimming from this boy.

"The top keepers, they could be out the game for 85 minutes and produce saves at the defining moments of games. 

"There's a lot of keepers who can make saves every 10 minutes but when you're out the game for long periods, that's when you need to know he's there. That one chance comes and he saves you."