Messi v Ronaldo: Who is the hat-trick king?

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo share the record for the most hat-tricks in UEFA Champions League history, with eight each.

UEFA.com breaks down the modern masters' treble pedigree.

Messi's hat-tricks by numbers

Of Messi's eight Champions League hat-tricks, two have come in the knockout stage: he scored five in a 7-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 16 second leg in March 2012 having previously hit four against Arsenal in the sides' quarter-final second leg in April 2010.

The Argentinian hit back-to-back hat-tricks in the 2016/17 group stage, scoring three against both Celtic on Matchday 1 and Manchester City on Matchday 3, having missed the Matchday 2 trip to Borussia Mönchengladbach through injury.

Messi broke Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 34 Liga hat-tricks with a treble against Mallorca in December 2019. February 2020's trio of strikes against Eibar moved his total on to 36.

Valencia, Osasuna, Espanyol and Deportivo have been Messi's favoured opponents in the Liga, the No10 claiming hat-tricks against each on three separate occasions (he has a Copa del Rey treble against Valencia too). Messi also has three hat-tricks against Sevilla, including two in the Liga and one in the Spanish Super Cup, and three against Atlético – two Liga and one Copa del Rey.

At international level, Messi broke new ground with his most recent hat-trick: he ended up scoring all five of Argentina's goals in a 5-0 friendly win against Estonia in Pamplona, Spain, in April 2022.

Ronaldo's hat-tricks by numbers

Of Ronaldo's 60 career hat-tricks, eight have come in the Champions League (seven for Real Madrid, one for Juventus) – with four of those in the knockout stage. His treble for Juve against Atlético on 12 March 2019 made him, at 34 years 35 days, the oldest hat-trick scorer in the competition's history.

Like Messi, Ronaldo hit trebles in consecutive Champions League games in the 2016/17 campaign – in a quarter-final scalp of Bayern and then in a semi-final against Real Madrid's city rivals Atlético.

Ronaldo has claimed hat-tricks in three European leagues (three in England, 34 in Spain and two in Italy) but his only domestic cup trebles both came in Spain's Copa del Rey.

Of all the teams he has faced, Sevilla may have the least fond memories of Ronaldo – he scored five hat-tricks against them in total. He also got three trebles against Getafe and Espanyol in the Spanish Liga, and the same number against Celta Vigo (two in the league, one in the cup).

His three hat-tricks against Madrid's neighbours Atlético may have been especially galling; he scored trebles against them in the Liga and Champions League in 2016/17, then registered his only Champions League trio for Juventus against Atleti in 2018/19.

How do those numbers compare with their contemporaries?

Stats correct as at 14 December 2022.