5 Most Hattrick Printers in the Champions League
Since changing the format to the Champions League in 1992, there are many players who have scored more than one goal in one game. Scoring a goal, let alone a hat trick in the Champions League is a special moment because only a few players can do it.
Not many players can score more than three goals in a match at the highest European club competition. Only two players, Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano who have scored five goals in one game in the Champions League.
There are already plenty of players who collect hat tricks more than once in the Champions League. Here are five most hat printers in the history of the Champions League as reported by Sportskeeda.
I. Cristiano Ronaldo
Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has been in top form for the past decade. Currently, the competition's top scorer with 9 goals, Ronaldo also set a record of being the first person in history to score six games in the group in the group competition.
Cristiano Ronaldo is also the top scorer in the Champions League. He has scored 114 during the competition and was 17 ahead of his eternal rival Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo has already scored seven hat-tricks created against Ajax (2012), Galatasaray (2013), Malmo (2015) Shakhtar Donetsk (2015), Wolfsburg (2016), Bayern Munchen (2017) and Atletico Madrid (2017).
II. Lionel Messi
The Argentine made his Barcelona debut in the summer of 2005 at the age of 17 and is considered one of the best players in the world today.
Messi has achieved great success in terms of trophies and individual awards during strengthening Barcelona. Along with Cristiano Ronaldo, he is currently the top hattrick scorer in Champions League history with 7 hat tricks.
Messi scored a hat-trick against Arsenal (2010), Viktoria Plzeň (2011), Bayer Leverkusen (2012), Ajax (2013), APOEL (2014), Celtic (2016) and Manchester City (2016).
III. Filippo Inzaghi
Former World Cup champion and two-time Champions League winner Filippo Inzaghi scored three hat tricks in the competition. He scored two hat tricks for Juventus against Dynamo Kyiv and Hamburg in 1998 and 2000. One more time to strengthen AC Milan against Deportivo La Coruna in 2002.
Inzaghi is one of the best strikers produced by Italy. He enjoyed a successful 20-year career.
After his retirement, Inzaghi is now turning profession as a coach, He had menukangi former club AC Milan but failed to achieve success so that eventually fired.
IV. Mario Gomez
German and Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez has scored 155 goals in 277 appearances in the Bundesliga with Stuttgart, Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich.
During Bayern's strengthening, Gomez scored three hat tricks in the Champions League and won the title with the club. Gomez made the hat tricks in the group stage against CFR Cluj, Napoli and Basel in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
After a brief period in Italy with Fiorentina, Gomez joined Wolfsburg for a year before returning to Stuttgart earlier this month.
V. Luiz Adriano
Brazilian striker Shakhtar Donetsk and Luiz Adriano have scored three hat tricks in Champions League history. Together with Lionel Messi, he is a player who can score five goals in one game in the Champions League.
After spending seven seasons with Shakhtar and winning trophies, the Brazilian chose to join AC Milan in 2015. But it only lasted two years before he signed a contract with Spartak Moscow in 2017.
Luiz Adriano's first hat-trick in the Champions League takes place against Nordsjælland in 2012 when the Ukrainian team win by a score of 5-2. The second was created in the match against Bate Borisov in 2012, where he scored 5 goals, and the third against the same team in the second leg in the group phase match.