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Scoring a hat-trick and taking the match ball home is every footballer's dream. After all, scoring goals is the ultimate objective of any team and contributing to the cause is the mission of each player involved.
Every goal scored that's scored in a game is important. For a player to be so thoroughly dominant that he ripples the net thrice in the same game is quite an achievement. We've seen plenty of prolific goalscorers take the world by storm over the past couple of decades.
In the 21st century, we've seen strikers raise the bar and hit rates of productivity that we're still getting used to. If you witnessed the mayhem caused but a certain Karim Benzema against Paris Saint-Germain and Cristiano Ronaldo against Tottenham Hotspur, you would know exactly what that means.
Without further ado, let's take a look at five players who have scored the most hat-tricks in history.
#4 Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski - 29 hat-tricks
Luis Suarez is one of the greatest strikers of the modern era. The Uruguayan international was phenomenal during his prime years which he spent at Liverpool and Barcelona.
After taking the Premier League by storm, Suarez moved to Barcelona in 2014 to form arguably the greatest attacking trio in the history of the sport alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar.
Between the 2009-10 and the 2018-19 seasons, only one player has beaten Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the European Golden Shoe - Luis Suarez. He shared it with Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2013-14 season (31 goals) before winning it outright in the 2015-16 season (40 goals).
Suarez has scored 29 hat-tricks in his career, the same as Robert Lewandowski. The Bayern Munich man is the most prolific striker in the world right now. Lewandowski has been breaking goalscoring records for fun over the past few years.
In the 2020-21 season, he broke Gerd Muller's record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga season (40) by netting 41 times in 29 appearances. The prolific is the current top scorer in Europe's top five leagues with 29 goals in 26 league games.
#3 Lionel Messi - 55 hat-tricks
Lionel Messi is one of the greatest goalscorers of all time. The Argentine international is also arguably the greatest footballer of all time. He has won the Ballon d'Or, the most prestigious individual award in football, a record seven times.
Messi is one of the most well-rounded and complete attackers of all time with there being very few weaknesses in his overall game. He has scored a whopping 55 of them in his career.
Messi has had a bit of a dull season in terms of goals and has scored just two goals in 18 Ligue 1 games this term. That is the worst goalscoring form he has ever showcased in his career.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo - 59 hat-tricks
Cristiano Ronaldo has struggled for goals since the turn of the year. He had scored just a single goal for Manchester United in his last 10 matches heading into last weekend's game against Tottenham Hotspur.
The 37-year-old rolled back the years and produced an absolutely stellar performance to score his 59th career hat-trick and win the game for United. Ronaldo is, as per FIFA, the player with the highest number of goals scored for club and country with 807.
The Portuguese international's haul of 59 hat-tricks is the most of any active player in the world right now.
#1 Pele - 92 hat-tricks
The authenticity of the sources that back Pele's wild goalscoring claims is still a bit suspect to say the least. But we simply can't discount the fact that the Brazilian legend is one of the greatest to have ever graced the game. His phenomenal list of achievements lends credence to that fact.
Pele has reportedly scored 92 hat-tricks for club and country in his career. It is said that most of them came in friendlies and there is no way of confirming how many of those were regarded as official.
The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes Pele as the player with the most hat-tricks in the history of football with 92. He also holds the distinction of being the youngest player to score a hat-trick at a World Cup. Pele did it for Brazil in 1958 at the age of 17 in the semifinals against France. That record is still intact 64 years later.
