This Wednesday, Actual Madrid secured an vital 4–3 win over Olympiacos in Greece, bettering their place within the UEFA Champions League group standings. Kylian Mbappe scored 4 targets, attaining a feat paying homage to the perfect years of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
It was the primary time Mbappe reached that quantity in a single Champions League match in his profession. His earlier finest was three targets, one thing he achieved on three events: twice with Paris Saint-Germain (towards Membership Brugge in 2019 and Barcelona in 2021) and as soon as this yr with Actual Madrid (towards Kairat Almaty).
These numbers place Kylian in a choose group of gamers whose performances in European competitors have amazed followers in current many years. Cristiano Ronaldo is a part of that group as nicely, although with one element that additional highlights Mbappe’s achievement: regardless of being the all-time main scorer in Champions League historical past and having performed the competitors till age 37, CR7 reached the four-goal mark solely as soon as.
On December 8, 2015, Ronaldo scored 4 targets towards Malmo in Actual Madrid’s 8–0 win on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. That was his finest European efficiency, adopted by seven different matches during which he recorded hat-tricks. Mbappe, at solely 26 years previous, has loads of time to surpass these numbers.
What number of instances has Messi scored 4 or extra targets within the Champions League?
After Cristiano Ronaldo, the participant with the second-most targets in UEFA Champions League historical past is Lionel Messi. It’s no shock the Argentine ahead has exceptional numbers within the competitors, rivaling these of any soccer legend.
Between his European debut in 2004 and his arrival at Inter Miami in 2023, Messi competed in 19 editions of the Champions League with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. On six events, Leo recorded hat-tricks, all with Barcelona, whereas in two different matches he scored much more.
On April 6, 2010, Messi led Barcelona to a 4–1 win over Arsenal at Camp Nou within the second leg of the quarterfinals. That day, the Argentine ahead scored all 4 of his staff’s targets. And two years later, he surpassed even that feat: on March 7, 2012, Messi scored 5 targets towards Bayer Leverkusen within the second leg of the Champions League spherical of 16.
* Growing story
