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The 28th season of the Champions League is in full swing, with matchday three having been completed with 16 fixtures played across different parts of the European continent.
The matchday served up a lot of action, drama and shock results and a total of 53 goals were scored in those 16 games, with some clubs taking one step closer to sealing qualification, while others are left with a mountain to climb.
The Champions League is the biggest stage in club football and it is a no-brainer that players go all out to make a mark in the competition, as a good performance in the Champions League goes a long way in cementing a footballer's legacy.
With the constantly evolving nature of football, there are always records up for grabs in the tournament and matchday three saw some players write their names into the record books by attaining rare feats.
In this piece, we shall be highlighting three players who wrote broke Champions League records on matchday three.
#1 Lionel Messi - The first player to score in 15 consecutive Champions League campaigns
Lionel Messi has always been destined for greatness right from when he wowed those within Barcelona's set-up with his performances in La Masia.
His talent level saw him gain speedy promotions to the senior team and he made his bow in the Champions League in December 2004 in a 2-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donestk and got off the mark a little over a year later in the 5-0 win over Panathinaikos in November 2005.
This was to be the first of 133 goals and counting and when he netted against Slavia Prague on matchday three, it meant the Rosario native had scored in every season since 2005, bringing his run to 15 consecutive campaigns which is longer than anyone else in history.
He had earlier shared the record with the legendary Raul Gonzalez, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema (who can equal him if he scores this season).
With the goal, he also equaled the former Spanish striker Raul as well as eternal rival Ronaldo in having scored against 33 different clubs and the return legs against Dortmund and Inter Milan would offer Messi the chance to go clear of the iconic duo.
#2 Kylian Mbappe - Youngest player to score 15 Champions League goals
Kylian Mbappe is another player who showed a lot of promise from a tender age and he has gone on to cement his legacy as a bonafide world-class player.
He captured world attention when, as a 17-year-old, he played a starring role in Monaco's fairytale campaign in 2017 which saw them qualify for the semifinal of the Champions League as well as win the French Ligue 1.
A mega transfer to PSG followed and since then, Mbappe has starred at the World Cup, been nominated for the Ballon d'Or, voted into the FIFPro, won the Golden Boy, inaugural Kopa Trophy in addition to numerous other honors.
Having only just returned from a back injury, the World Cup winner was started from the bench against Club Brugge and was only introduced to the fray in the 52nd minute and needed just three minutes to score his first of what was an eventual hat-trick in a 5-0 demolition in Belgium.
This saw him become the youngest player to score 15 goals in the history of the Champions League, doing so aged just 20 years and 306 days, breaking the previous record held by Lionel Messi (21 years and 288 days).
Furthermore, he became the first player player to come off the bench and score a Champions League hat-trick since Joseba Llorante did so for Villareal in October 2008.
#1 Erling Braut Haaland - First player to score six Champions League goals in his first three matches
Erling Braut Haaland is the son of legendary Leeds United defender Alf-Inge Haaland, but unlike his father, he is making a name for himself in the art of putting the ball into the back of the net rather than keeping it out.
The former Molde striker is no stranger to scoring goals and created history as the player with the most goals in a single match at a recognized FIFA international tournament when he scored nine goals in the 12-0 win over Honduras at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in June 2019.
This saw him finish as the tournament's top scorer despite Norway being eliminated at the group stage and prompted a transfer to Austrian Bundesliga side Red Bull Salzburg.
In Austria, the 19-year-old has continued from where he stopped and is banging in goals for fun to help Salzburg maintain their unbeaten start to their title defense.
His form domestically has garnered attention abroad and he was earmarked as one of the teenagers to look out for in the group stage of the Champions League this season.
Haaland kicked off his Champions League campaign with a hat-trick in Salzburg's 6-2 victory over Genk on matchday 1 (incredibly, this was already his fourth hat-trick of the campaign).
He followed that up with a goal off the bench in the thrilling 4-3 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield and scored a brace as Salzurg fell to another exciting 3-2 defeat at home to Napoli.
That brought his total to six for the campaign and has him topping the scorer's chart which is rather remarkable considering that he is ahead of proven goalscorers like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Robert Lewandowski.
Furthermore, with his brace against Napoli, he has become the first player to score six goals in his first three matches in the competition, while he also equaled Karim Benzema as the first teenager to score in his first three games in the Champions League.
