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The Champions League is the single most prestigious competition in club football and it is for this reason that players give their utmost in a bid to make a mark in the tournament, with legendary displays in the Champions League guaranteed to grant such player immortality.
When it comes to making a mark, there are not many bigger scenarios than scoring a hat-trick, with the rare feat of scoring three or more goals in a match automatically generating a buzz all around the world.
Since the rebranding of the competition in 1992, the Champions League has witnessed 127 hat-tricks, with 85 players scoring three or more goals in a single match for 47 different clubs.
Several players have written their name into the hat-trick folklore, with Jull Ellerman scoring the first hat-trick for PSV in the first season of the competition in September 1992, while Raul Gonzalez was the youngest to achieve the feat when he did so in October 1995 for Real Madrid.
Thirteen players have scored four goals or more in a single game, while Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo lead the way with eight Champions League hat-tricks apiece.
Expectedly, all hat-tricks are not valued equally and players who score three or more goals in a crunch knockout fixture would be more valued than those who do so in dead rubber group stage fixture.
Here, with emphasis on the strength of the opposition and importance of the fixture, we shall be ranking the five greatest hat-tricks in Champions League history.
Honourable mentions: Ronaldo Nazario: Manchester United v Real Madrid (April 23, 2003) Lionel Messi: Barcelona vs Arsenal (April 6, 2010), Cristiano Ronaldo: Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid (May 02, 2017)
#5 Cristiano Ronaldo: Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich
Santiago Bernabeu (April 18, 2017)
Cristiano Ronaldo is called 'Mr Champions League' for a reason and of his eight hat-tricks in the competition, four have come in the knockout rounds, with his goals ultimately proving to be the difference between progression and elimination for his teams.
The Madeira native could well have occupied all five spots in this list and his first entry came in the second leg of the quarter-final clash between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
Ronaldo had earlier scored a brace in the first leg to condemn the Germans to a 2-1 defeat on their patch and he levelled matters in the second leg after Lewandowski had put the visitors ahead only for a late Sergio Ramos own goal to give Bayern Munich a 2-1 lead and force extra time.
From then on, it became a Ronaldo affair, with his two goals in the extra 30 minutes handing the advantage to Real Madrid in what was an eventual 6-3 aggregate win.
Real Madrid ended the season by becoming the first team to successfully defend their Champions League crown and their talisman won a fifth consecutive Champions League Golden Boot with 12 goals which was spectacular, considering that he came into quarterfinal clash with Bayern with just two goals from his opening eight matches.
#4 Cristiano Ronaldo: Juventus vs Atletico Madrid
Juventus Stadium (March 12, 2019)
Two goals from Atletico Madrid's centre-back pairing of Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez gave the Spaniards a 2-0 first-leg victory in their Round of 16 clash with Juventus and installed them as heavy favourites to progress ahead of the second-leg in Turin.
Over the last few years, Los Colchoneros have become the most defensively solid side in Europe under Diego Simeone's management and indeed, they came into the return fixture with Juventus having kept five consecutive clean sheets.
However, the Spanish side knew too well the danger posed by Cristiano Ronaldo, having been on the receiving end of two hat-tricks from him and with the Real Madrid legend in Juventus' ranks, Diego Simeone would have been careful not to get too excited.
Against any other team and any other player, Atletico Madrid holding a 2-0 advantage is game, set, and match, but Ronaldo is a special breed and he was at the height of his powers in the second-leg fixture.
It happened to be a case of lightning striking thrice, with Cristiano Ronaldo almost single-handedly eliminating Atletico in their new home.
Two headers in either half and a late penalty turned the tie on its head and condemned Atletico Madrid to an unlikely elimination, ensuring that they would not partake in the Champions League final held in their home stadium.
#3 Robert Lewandowski: Dortmund vs Real Madrid
Signal Iduna Park (April 24, 2013)
Borussia Dortmund created shockwaves by winning consecutive Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012 and they took their surprise run a notch higher by progressing to the Champions League final in 2013.
The last hurdle they scaled before reaching the showpiece event was none other than Real Madrid and the Germans showed great grit by dispatching the record champions 4-3 on aggregate.
Their charge was led by a certain Robert Lewandowski and while the Polish international might now be banging in goals for fun with Bayern Munich these days, he has always been lethal in front of goal.
Real Madrid were first-hand witnesses of this in the first-leg of their semifinal clash with Dortmund and Lewandowski was the star of the show, scoring all four goals in an eventual shock 4-1 victory.
This automatically handed the initiative to the Germans and Lewandowski's goals proved priceless, as despite Real Madrid winning the second-leg 2-0, they were eliminated on aggregate.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo: Real Madrid vs Wolfsburg
Santiago Bernabeu (April 12, 2016)
Real Madrid made history as the first side to win three consecutive Champions League titles, but there is every possibility that their record-breaking feat would have ended before it even began if not for the output of their all-time highest goalscorer.
The capital side were drawn with German team VFL Wolfsburg in the last eight and while the Bundesliga outfit might not exactly be the most illustrious of names, it is pertinent to note that Real Madrid were in the middle of a semi-crisis at that period.
They had recently parted ways with coach Rafa Benitez midway through the campaign and this reflected in the first-leg of their clash with Wolfsburg, with Julian Draxler inspiring his side to a 2-0 win.
Real Madrid needed three goals to qualify outright and an extra one for every away goal scored by Wolfsburg and this difficult scenario made many write of Los Blancos' chances of progression.
Those who opined so, however, massively underestimated the abilities of Cristiano Ronaldo and the Portuguese icon reminded everyone of his capability with a well taken 'perfect hat-trick' in front of 76,000 Madridistas.
It took him just 17 minutes to level the tie and a stunning 77th-minute freekick completed the turnaround to set Real Madrid on the way to recreating history.
#1 Lucas Moura: Ajax vs Tottenham
Johan Cruyff Arena (May 8, 2019)
Ajax were the fairytale team of the 2018/2019 Champions League campaign, first qualifying from a group also containing Bayern Munich, Benfica, and AEK Ajax, before impressively eliminating Real Madrid and Juventus in the knockout rounds.
Their Cinderella story, however, ended in the semifinal stage, with Lucas Moura the hero as Tottenham Hotspur made it to their first-ever Champions League final.
The Dutch giants had defeated the Premier League outfit 1-0 at Wembley and they were all but certain of qualification when Matthijs de Ligt and Hakim Ziyech scored in the second-leg to give them a 2-0 half-time lead and a 3-0 aggregate advantage.
However, Lucas Moura stepped up to the plate and scored two quickfire goals within 15 minutes of the second half to level the match, but even at that, Ajax still had the advantage and would have progressed had the game ended all square.
With few seconds to go until the final whistle, they were still in the driving seat, but a last-gasp goal from Moura in the sixth minute of additional time put Tottenham 3-2 up on the night and eliminated the hosts on the away-goal rule.
