El Clasico: 4 incredible stats that show that Lionel Messi is the King of the fixture

#2 Most Hattricks (2)

Till date, 5 players have scored 2 hattricks in El Clásico: Jamie Lazcano (Real Madrid), Santiago Bernabeu (Real Madrid), Paulino Alcantara (Barcelona), Ferenc Puskas (Real Madrid) and Lionel Messi (Barcelona).

Messi's first hattrick in El Clásico was an absolute cracker. 3 times Real Madrid took the lead, and thrice Messi brought Barcelona back into the game, with the match ending 3-3.

Messi's second hattrick in El Clásico came almost 7 years later, once again in March, in 2014, where Barcelona came back from behind twice to beat Real Madrid 4-3 at the Bernabeu. Messi started the day by an inch-perfect assist for Iniesta to open the scoring. However, Benzema equalized in the 20th minute and gave Real the lead 4 minutes later. Messi scored his first of the night in the 42nd minute and the first half ended 2-2.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored from the spot in the 55th minute, giving Real the lead again, but Messi restored parity again, in the 65th minute, this time from the penalty spot, as Ramos got his marching orders.

In the 84th minute, Messi scored his third of the night, once again from the penalty spot and ensured that Barcelona returned from the Bernabeu with 3 points and a memorable 4-3 victory.

One cannot rule out Messi getting his third hattrick in this fixture and moving clear of the pack, because he may not be playing tonight but is still active for Barcelona.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written close to 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Sagnik Mallick