Cristiano Ronaldo continued his red-hot form with four goals as Real Madrid beat Girona 6-3 in La Liga on Sunday night.
Ronaldo made it 21 goals from his last 11 matches in a devastating individual display, sealing his 50th career hat-trick in the process and taking his tally for the season to a staggering 37.
Here, we look back at his top five best hat-tricks – taking into account the magnitude of the game and context.
Do you agree with our selections?
Let us know – get in touch via Twitter and Facebook.
5. Man United 6-0 Newcastle, Premier League, January 12, 2008
This was Ronaldo’s first career hat-trick and indeed first for the Red Devils. Ronaldo was mesmerising during United’s title-winning season – in which he netted 31 goals in 34 Premier League outings. This treble was significant because it opened the floodgates to Ronaldo scoring big and really cashing in, seizing his chance to boost his goals tally at every opportunity – particularly against the weaker sides.
At that time, he also started to fine-tune his ability from the dead ball. His opener, in that game at Old Trafford, wasn’t the finest – with the ball squirming through the wall and beneath Shay Given – but served as further evidence that Ronaldo with a set-piece in his grasp was to be feared.
His second was just delightful, combining his pace, vision and supreme first-touch to get on the blindside of the Toon left-back and cut right through the heart of their defence, before latching onto an exquisite Carlos Tevez pass and finishing.
He then left Newcastle defender Cacapa – yeah, remember him – on the floor, after using his first touch to get the ball out of his feet, and then smashed a sweet left-foot strike into the Stretford End goal.
Watch it here.
4. Atletico Madrid 0-3 Real Madrid, La Liga, November 19, 2016
There’s nothing quite like tearing your arch-rivals to shreds on their own patch. Ronaldo bossed the Vicente Calderon that night, extending Real’s lead at the top of the table in what culminated in a title triumph.
His first goal came from a long-range free-kick, he tucked home a penalty for his second and latched onto a superb Gareth Bale byline cross to wrap things up. The hat-trick probably gained more headlines for the then 31-year-old’s posed celebration in front of the TV cameras, which didn’t go down too well with the locals.
That was the 39th hat-trick of his career – meaning Ronaldo has since scored 11 hat-tricks in 15 months or so of football. Truly spellbinding stuff.
Watch it here.
3. Real Madrid 3-0 Wolfsburg, Champions League quarter-final 2nd leg, April 12, 2016
Almost two years ago, Zinedine Zidane had yet to win a Champions League. That seems a very long time in the past now. But Ronaldo’s hat-trick against the Bundesliga side – helping to seal a 3-2 aggregate success following a limp 2-0 first leg loss in Germany – was a totemic milestone in the Whites’ successful charge to glory the following month against city rivals Atletico at the San Siro.
His first two goals – an early tap-in after 15 minutes and a glancing header from a Toni Kroos header less than 120 seconds later – were not vintage, but restored parity in the tie.
On that evening, the Bernabeu was a real pressure-cooker and you could cut the tension with a knife. That’s probably why the roof – if it had one – would have come off when Ronaldo slammed home a dipping 25-yard free-kick with 13 minutes left on the clock to seal Real’s passage.
It turned out to be a defining night in Zidane’s tenure.
Watch it here.
2.Real Madrid 4-2 Bayern Munich, Champions League quarter-final 2nd leg, April 18, 2017
A vital treble from the Portuguese star which helped Los Blancos battle past Bayern Munich in last season’s epic Champions League quarter-final clash. The second leg was an enthralling encounter at the Bernabeu as the German giants took the game into extra-time with a 2-1 lead, making the aggregate score level at 3-3 apiece.
Ronaldo then pounced with two goals in the space of five minutes to complete his hat-trick. While his strikes were more clinical than stunning, his third goal was his 100th in Europe’s top competition and this blitz was paramount on the way to back-to-back European successes.
Watch it here.
1. Sweden 2-3 Portugal, World Cup qualifier – European play-off 2nd leg, 19 November, 2013
It’s amazing to think that this hat-trick was well over four years ago – for it is still so fresh in the mind.
Ronaldo ensured Portugal qualified for the 2014 World Cup, banging in a treble during the 3-2 second and away leg victory against Sweden – ensuring a 4-2 aggregate success.
It wasn’t just the importance of these three goals but the calibre too, with each of them being world-class. His opening two goals were fine left-footed finishes, escaping the clutches of the last defender on both occasions to rifle home from a narrow angle while he rounded the goalkeeper brilliantly for his third, before crashing the ball into the roof of the net. Simply bliss – this one was impossible to top.
Watch it here.