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The 2022-23 UEFA Champions League is underway and top players and teams all across Europe will battle it out for the biggest prize in club football.
At the end of the day, football is a simple game where the team that scores more goals than the other wins it. That's why strikers or goalscorers have been and continue to be the most celebrated footballers on the planet.
Scoring a goal in the Champions League ought to be a dream for every top player. After all, it's only the cream of the crop on the continent that gets to play in the competition. As a result, the level of football being played is very high.
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Only the very best in the business have scored hat-tricks at the grandest stage of them all. Without further ado, let's take a look at five players who have scored the most hat-tricks in the UEFA Champions League.
#5 Mario Gomez - 3 Champions League hat-tricks
Mario Gomez is one of the most underrated strikers of his generation. He was a great goalscorer and had quite an illustrious career. The tall and physically imposing Gomez was quite good at aerial duels and could also shoot with both feet.
Gomez spearheaded the Bayern Munich attack and was their centerpiece in the final third as Arjen Robben and Franck Ribbery wreaked havoc down the flanks. The former German international scored three Champions League hat-tricks in his career and all three came for the Bavarians.
In 44 appearances in the Champions League, Gomez scored 26 goals and provided six assists.
#4 Karim Benzema - 4 Champions League hat-tricks
Karim Benzema is one of the best strikers of his generation. The Frenchman has been phenomenal for Real Madrid for over a decade now and despite turning 34, he continues to be phenomenal.
Benzema has scored four Champions League hat-tricks and all four have been for Real Madrid. Two of those four hat-tricks were scored last year, against Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea in the Round of 16 and the quarter-finals respectively.
Benzema is one of the most well-rounded forwards in the world and could add more hat-tricks to his kitty before he decides to hang up his boots.
#3 Robert Lewandowski - 6 Champions League hat-tricks
Robert Lewandowski has established himself as one of the most elite strikers of the modern era in recent times. The Poland international is one of the most prolific strikers of all time. He has picked up the European Golden Shoe in the last two seasons.
Lewandowski, who joined Barcelona from Bayern Munich this summer, has scored six hat-tricks in the Champions League. He scored his first hat-trick in Europe's elite competition for Borussia Dortmund.
Lewandowski then scored four with Bayern Munich. The 34-year-old scored a hat-trick in his Champions League debut for Barcelona against Victoria Plzen on September 7.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo - 8 Champions League hat-tricks
Cristiano Ronaldo, also known as 'Mr. Champions League', is the leading goalscorer in the competition. He has scored 140 goals in 183 appearances in the competition and has won the Champions League title five times in his career.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner won't be playing in the competition this season as Manchester United failed to qualify for it. Ronaldo has scored eight Champions League hat-tricks in his career.
He has scored seven hat-tricks for Real Madrid and one for Juventus. Ronaldo holds the record for scoring the most hat-tricks in a single Champions League season, with three in the 2015-16 campaign.
#1 Lionel Messi - 8 Champions League hat-tricks
Lionel Messi has scored eight hat-tricks in the Champions League and all eight have come for Barcelona. He holds the record for scoring the most number of Champions League hat-tricks for a single club as well.
The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner has won Europe's elite competition four times in his career. Messi has scored 125 goals in 147 appearances in Europe. He is arguably the greatest footballer of all time and is only 15 goals away from equalling Ronaldo's goal tally in the competition.
