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Scoring a hat-trick is the ultimate goal for any forward. It is incredibly hard to pull off, and thus a rare phenomenon. So when someone does manage to do the improbable, the football fraternity makes it a point to make a big deal out of it. Not only does the goalscorer deservedly gets to take the match ball home, but they also tend to dominate headlines for a few weeks.
Today, we will take a look at five extraordinary goalscorers who have had the good fortune of celebrating multiple hat-tricks in the last couple of years. Below are five special forwards who have bagged the most hat-tricks since 2020:
Special note: Only the top five European leagues have been considered for this list. Stats from all competitive cup competitions and national teams have been taken into account.
Stats: Transfermarkt
#5 Ciro Immobile — 4
Italy international Ciro Immobile is one of the most underrated strikers of the era. He is an excellent reader of the game, a fox in the box, and a clinical finisher. Lazio may not have won many trophies lately, but Immobile has certainly helped them remain as competitive as possible. Since the start of 2020, Immobile has scored four trebles in 123 games for club and country, with all of them coming for Lazio.
Immobile scored his first on January 18, 2020, in a 5-1 Serie A win over Sampdoria. Two of his three goals came from the penalty spot. His next one came against Serie A opponents Hellas Verona on July 26, 2020. Immobile’s goals, two of which were penalties, fired his team to an emphatic 5-1 victory.
His next two came in the 2021-22 season. First, he scored thrice in a 6-1 win over Spezia Calcio on August 28, 2021. Then, he fired three past Genoa in a 4-1 triumph on April 10, 2022.
#4 Cristiano Ronaldo — 5
Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, has been on the wrong side of 30 for a while now, but it has not stopped him from finding the back of the net regularly. The Portuguese, who has a record 60 hat-tricks to his name, has scored five trebles in 137 games since the start of the decade. Two came for Juventus, two for Manchester United, while the other came for his national team.
Ronaldo, who was at Juventus between the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons, scored thrice in a 4-0 Serie A win over Cagliari on January 6, 2020. One of his three strikes came from the penalty spot. His final triple for Juventus came on March 14, 2021, coincidentally against the same opponent. That time, his treble (one penalty) propelled the Bianconeri to a 3-1 victory.
The Portugal skipper’s next hat-trick came for his country on October 12, 2021, in a 5-0 win over Luxembourg. His goals helped Portugal to a comfortable win in the important World Cup Qualifier.
For Manchester United, Ronaldo scored two hat-tricks in the 2021-22 season, firing the Red Devils to important victories. On March 12, 2022, he scored three goals against Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur, propelling his team to a 3-2 win. A month later, on April 16, he netted another treble in the Premier League, this time in a 3-2 win over Norwich City.
#3 Kylian Mbappe — 7
Paris Saint-Germain and France sensation Kylian Mbappe is arguably the most sought-after forward in the world right now. Known for his pace, excellent movement, and lethal finishing, Mbappe has been racking goals for fun, scoring seven hat-tricks in 137 games since January 2020.
Out of his seven trebles, six have come from PSG and one for France. Mbappe scored four goals for France on November 12, 2021, in an 8-0 World Cup Qualifying win over Kazakhstan.
Mbappe scored one triple for PSG in the 2019-20 season, firing them to a 5-1 win against Lyon in the French Cup on March 3, 2020. He added another the following season, with it coming in the 4-1 win over Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash on February 16, 2021.
Last season, Mbappe bagged three hat-tricks. His first came against French Cup opponents Vannes in a 4-0 win in January 2022. The Frenchman scored the next two against Ligue 1 rivals Clermont Foot (6-1 win, April 2022) and FC Metz (5-0 win, May 2022), respectively.
Mbappe’s last treble came on matchday three of the 2022-23 Ligue 1 season (August 21). His exploits fired the French champions to a 7-1 win over 2020-21 Ligue 1 winners Lille.
#2 Erling Haaland — 7
Norway international Erling Haaland joined Manchester City earlier this season, following a blistering spell with Borussia Dortmund (86 goals in 89 matches). The young center-forward, who has racked up 20 goals for Norway in 21 appearances, has a knack for making headlines, netting as many as seven hat-tricks since January 2020.
Haaland scored his first treble of the decade in a 5-3 win over Bundesliga rivals FC Augsburg on January 18, 2020. The following season, on November 21, 2020, he scored four times in a 5-2 win over Hertha BSC. The 2021-22 campaign saw him net two more hat-tricks for Dortmund. He scored against DFB Pokal opponents Wehen Wiesbaden (3-0 win) and Bundesliga rivals VfL Bochum (4-3 defeat) in August 2021 and April 2022, respectively. His DFB Pokal treble included a penalty, sandwiched between two left-footed strikes.
The Norway international already has two hat-tricks for his country. He scored the first in a 4-0 win over Romania in the UEFA Nations League Group B on October 11, 2022. The other came in a 5-1 victory over Gibraltar in the World Cup Qualifiers on September 7, 2021.
Haaland has already bagged his first treble for Manchester City, with his triple firing the English champions to a 4-2 win over Premier League opponents Crystal Palace on August 27.
#1 Robert Lewandowski — 9
Barcelona ace Robert Lewandowski is arguably the best striker in the world right now and his stats comfortably back that up. The two-time European Golden Boot winner has bagged a whopping nine hat-tricks since January 2020, with all of them coming for his former employers Bayern Munich.
Lewandowski scored five hat-tricks in the 2020-21 season. He scored four times (one penalty) in a 4-3 Bundesliga win over Hertha BSC on October 4, 2020. 20 days later, he netted thrice in a 5-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the German top flight. On March 3, 2021, Lewandowski scored three times (one penalty) as he fired Bayern to an impressive 4-2 win over Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund.
The Poland international’s last two hat-tricks of the 2020-21 season came against VfB Stuffgart (4-0 win, March 2021) and Borussia Monchengladbach (6-0 win, May 2021). His treble against Monchengladbach included a penalty.
The following season, he scored four more hat-tricks. Hertha BSC (5-0 win, August 2021) and FC Koln (4-0 win, January 2022) were his victims in the Bundesliga. Benfica (5-2 win, November 2021) and RB Salzburg (7-1 win, March 2022), on the other hand, suffered the same fate in the UCL group stage and round of 16, respectively.
