Scoring a goal, let alone a hat-trick is a difficult task by normal standards (unless you’re Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi and score hat-tricks for fun). Some players have defied the odds and scored hat-tricks in mind-blowingly short time periods.
Andy Carroll, for instance, scored three in seven minutes against Arsenal on the weekend, the fifth fastest in the Premier League.
The record for the fastest ever hat-trick is held by Tommy Ross of Ross County who scored three in 90 seconds against Nairn in 1964.
We have listed the fastest hat-tricks in the major leagues across Europe. The list features a few expected names and a couple of surprises.
1) Portuguese Primeira Liga – Fernando Gomes
FC Porto have long dominated the Portuguese top flight. The fastest hat-trick in the Portuguese League has been scored by Fernando Gomes. He netted three goals in 7 minutes against Farense on 29th May 1988. Although a technically average player, he had great poaching skills.
Gomes went on to achieve great success with FC Porto winning five league titles, three domestic super cups and three Portuguese cups. He is also one of the only six players to have scored more than five goals in a game in the Portuguese League.
2) Ligue 1 – Matt Moussilou
LOSC Lille striker Matt Moussilou scored a four-minute hat-trick in an 8-0 drubbing of FC Istres in 2005. He broke the record of five minutes set by Jeremy Menez in January in the same season.
Of late, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has come closest to beating this record when he scored a hat-trick in nine minutes against FC Troyes.
3) La Liga – David Villa
Legendary Barcelona and Spain striker, David Villa holds the record for the fastest hat-trick in La Liga history. He scored a hat-trick in 4 minutes while playing for Valencia in the 2005-2006 season. Playing against Athletic Bilbao, he scored in the 82nd, 84th and 87th minute, bringing up his hat-trick in four minutes.
David Villa later went on to become Spain’s leading goalscorer, usurping Raul Gonzalez’s tally of 44 goals for the national team. He went on to have a trophy-laden career with FC Barcelona and now plies his trade in New York at New York City FC.
4) Bundesliga – Robert Lewandowski
Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski scored five goals in nine minutes past Wolfsburg in September 2015. He also set the record for the fastest hat-trick in the Bundesliga in the game.
Coming on at half-time, Lewandowski scored a hat-trick in 3 minutes and 22 seconds between the 51st and 55th minute. He capped off his spectacular performance with an amazing volley in the 60th minute.
Lewandowski broke the 24-year-old record of a hat-trick in 6 minutes set by Duisburg’s Michael Tonnies in 1991.
Tonnies congratulated Lewandowski on breaking his record saying he deserved to break it as what he had conjured up had been amazing. Lewandowski also broke the record for most goals scored by a substitute and the fastest four and five goals in a Bundesliga match.
5) English Premier League – Sadio Mane
The record for the fastest hat-trick in the English Premier League is held by Southampton’s Senegalese forward, Sadio Mane who scored three goals in two minutes and 56 seconds against Aston Villa in 2015. The mercurial winger scored quickfire goals in the 13th, 14th and 15th minutes for the Saints.
Mane broke Robbie Fowler’s two-decade long record for the fastest hat-trick in the English Premier League by an astounding 97 seconds. He also set the record to be the first player to score a Premier League hat-trick within 16 minutes when he scored his third goal with a brilliant first-time finish past Shay Given from Shane Long’s cross.
6) Serie A – Valentino Mazzola
The record for the fastest hat-trick in the Italian top flight is held by Italian forward Valentino Mazzola. He scored three goals in two minutes for Torino FC in the 6-0 win against Vicenza Calcio way back in April 1947.
Ghanaian Kevin-Prince Boateng came the closest to beating the record with 3 goals in 14 minutes but the record has stood firm for 69 years and does not look like it’ll be broken soon.
