Of the 93 different players to have registered a hat-trick in the UEFA Champions League (1992-93 onwards), 13 of them have managed to score four (or more) goals in a game in the competition.
Robert Lewandowski's four-goal haul at Crvena Zvezda on Matchday 5 of the 2019-20 Champions League marked the first time since 2013-14 (Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovich) that two players scored four-goal hat-tricks in the competition. On Matchday 2, Lewandowski's Bayern compatriot Serge Gnabry had scored four in the team's 7-2 win at English side Tottenham Hotspur.
The Poland striker's effort in the Serbian capital was the 16th instance of a player scoring four (or more) goals in a Champions League game. Let us meet the last 5 players to have done so in the competition.
#1 Robert Lewandowski (2019-20)
Lewandowski's first Champions League hat-trick was a four-goal one when the then Borussia Dortmund player scored all four in his team's 4-1 win over Real Madrid in the first leg of the 2012-13 semifinals. It made the Polish striker the first player to score a four- (or more) goal hat-trick in the semifinals of the competition.
Six seasons later, in the midst of his most prolific goal-scoring spell which saw the Bayern Munich player become the first ever player in the Bundesliga to score in the first 11 games of the German top-flight, Lewandowski turned his sights to the Champions League. Having scored on each of the four matchdays of the season's competition, the prolific Pole blitzed four second-half goals past a hapless Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade, to become the fastest scorer of a Champions League quadruple.
In the process, Lewandowski joined Messi as the only players in the history of the Champions League to register multiple four- (or more) goal hauls.
Also check out:Champions League Schedule Champions League table Champions league top scorers
#2 Serge Gnabry (2019-20)
There was little indication of what was in store when Son Heung-min opened the scoring for home side Tottenham Hotspur. Joshua Kimmich provided an immediate response for the visitors and Robert Lewandowski scored on the cusp of half-time to give Bayern a 2-1 lead, before the Serge Gnabry show unfolded in the second half.
The German winger scored twice to provide a healthy three-goal cushion to Bayern. Although Harry Kane pulled one back for the hosts, any slim hopes of a comeback by Tottenham were doused when Gnabry scored twice more in the last seven minutes. He slotted home either side of a Lewandowski strike, as Bayern condemned Tottenham to their worst-ever home defeat.
In the process, Gnabry provided the Champions League's 15th four-goal hat-trick. It was the 127th instance of a hat-trick in the Champions League, as the German winger became the 93rd different player and the fourth from Germany (also Bernd Hobsch, Uwe Rösler, Mario Gómez and Mesut Özil) to do so.
Also read: Gnabry joins a select-group of players to score 4 (or more) goals in a Champions League game.
#3 Cristiano Ronaldo (2015-16)
After Karim Benzema's quickfire double had provided Real Madrid a two-goal cushion inside 24 minutes, Danish visitors Malmo were put to the sword by Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese scored four goals in a devastating 19-minute spell either side of halftime to end the game as a contest.
It was the 100th hat-trick in the competition, and the seventh to be scored by a Real Madrid player (Raúl Gonzalez-1, Ronaldo-1, Karim Benzema-1, Cristiano Ronaldo-4).
The four-goal haul was Ronaldo's first in the Champions League.
#4 Luis Adriano (2014-15)
Luiz Adriano's four-goal first-half blitz propelled Shakhtar Donetsk to a commanding 5-0 lead on a balmy night in Borisov. In the process, the Ukrainian champions became the first team to amass five away goals in the first half of a Champions League game.
Adriano scored his fifth of the night from the penalty spot as Shakhtar equaled the record (7-0) for the biggest away win in Champions League history.
It was Adriano's first Champions League hat-trick as he became the first player after Lionel Messi to score five goals in a Champions League game.
In the process of recording the 93rd hat-trick in the Champions League, Adriano became the second Brazilian player (also Adriano Leite Ribeiro) to score multiple hat-tricks in the competition.
#5 Zlatan Ibrahimovich (2013-14)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his first (and only) Champions League hat-trick when the Swedish striker scored four times in Paris St. Germain's 5-0 home win over Belgian side Anderlecht in a group game of the 2013-14 Champions League.
Ibrahimovic opened the scoring by slotting the ball into an empty net before a sublime back-heel followed by a sumptuous curler brought about his first hat-trick in the competition. The Swedish striker scored his fourth of the game at the hour mark as PSG eased to a resounding win.
It was the 86th instance of a hat-trick in the Champions League as Ibrahimovic became the 68th different player and the first from Sweden to score three or more goals in the competition.
Also read: Cristiano Ronaldo's Champions League scoring records