5 footballers who scored a hat-trick on their full league debut

Scoring a hat-trick is perhaps the pinnacle a player can reach during a match. Of course, scoring more than three goals is also great and so is the concept of a perfect hat-trick.

However, the truth is that scoring thrice in a game, regardless of how they come, is perhaps the best feeling a player can achieve in a football match. But there is something that could beat this.

For any footballer, debuts are matches to remember. After all, they are the ‘first time’ – and no-one ever forgets their first time.

So what happens when a player scores a hat-trick in their debut match? It is a feeling best described by the ones that successfully. Not many have done it, however, as here are the five players who scored a hat-trick on their first league start with their club…

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#5 Alessandro Del Piero

Putting him here feels a bit like cheating because he had played for Juventus numerous times as a substitute before his first start against Parma in the 1993-1994 season.

However, Alessandro Del Piero turned out to be a legend by the time he hung up his boots and his first full start provides a good narrative of how he was always destined for greatness.

Before his first start against Parma, he had already scored after coming on as a substitute against Reggiana. But given that Juventus already had a great striker in the form of Roberto Baggio, Del Piero found his chance hard to come by.

But then it happened. Against Parma in the 28th league game of the season, his hat-trick helped Juventus to a 4-0 win and set him on the path of greatness. Juventus might not have won the league that season but they had unearthed a future legend.

#4 Fabrizio Ravanelli

Making it to this list is Alessandro Del Piero’s former team-mate and one of those players whose presence limited the legendary former Juventus number 10’s appearances in his debut season with the Old Lady.

Fabrizio Ravanelli enjoyed a great spell with Juventus which ended when he moved to Middlesbrough in England. Bryan Robson was the manager of the English club at the time and sanctioned his signature for £7 million, which was a lot of money at the time.

And he hit the ground running in his first league start. The Italian smashed a wonderful hattrick, which included one penalty, against Liverpool to help his team to a 3-3 draw against the Merseyside outfit.

Things were supposed to be all rosy for Middlesbrough that season but it ended in a major disappointment as the club as they got relegated from the league and lost two domestic finals.

#3 Christian Vieri

"To be honest I was not very good at football when I was younger, I loved cricket and when I started to get results with my team I dreamt of becoming the next Allan Border."

This is what Christian Vieri actually said. This is a man that wanted to become a cricketer and emulate Allan Border and also claimed that he wasn’t entirely great at football during his younger days.

However, in the end, he not only turned out to be a great player but defined an entire era during his time. He was the archetypical predatory striker who found the net often.

In his league debut with Inter, who signed him for a world record sum of €49 million, he scored a hattrick against Verona to give his team a 3-0 win. He went on to score 103 league goals for Inter in 143 games, shutting the mouths of the critics who questioned his transfer price.

#2 Alan Shearer

Alan Shearer is perhaps the greatest striker England have ever produced and the signs were there from a very early age. In his first start with Southampton, the then 17-year-old Shearer scored a wonderful hattrick at The Dell against Arsenal.

It was a sign of things to come as two of Shearer’s treble where headers. At exactly 6 foot, he is not among the tallest of players and yet his ability in the air was unquestionable even from a young age.

Arsenal lost 4-2 that day and it was the beginning of the Alan Shearer era. The Englishman was awarded a professional contract by the Saints at the end of the season and went on to play 158 times for them and score 43 goals.

His best time, however, was with Newcastle United as he scored 206 goals from 405 appearances. He also went on to score 30 times for England in 63 games.

#1 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

There are some factions of the football community who don’t regard the Gabon international highly. The reasoning behind this is that apart from pace and finishing, the former Borussia Dortmund star doesn’t have much to offer.

However, despite being limited, he has stamped his name as one of the best strikers in the world. So only goodness knows how much of a beast he could have been if he had more to his game.

In his first full league debut for his old club Borussia Dortmund, he scored a tremendous hattrick against Augsburg, which included a header and two right-footed goals. It paved the way for the Gabonese as he finished his Dortmund career with 141 goals from just 213 games.

With Arsenal now, he has continued his scoring form as he has already scored 19 goals in his first 27 games for the London outfit.