10 players who scored 5 goals in a game in the decade (2010-19)
Lionel Messi, along with Cristiano Ronaldo, have been standout performers for club and country during the decade that was 2010 to 2019. Ronaldo and Messi, with 54 and 50 respectively have the two leading tallies of hat-tricks by any active player. Among a plethora of other scoring records, the duo are the only players to score 300 or more goals in the La Liga and 100 or more goals in the Champions League.
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It is rare for a player to score hat-tricks, and evidently rarer still to score a quadruple (4 goals in a game) or a quintuple in a competitive football game in modern times. It is evidenced in the fact that no player since Archie Thompson has scored six in a game since the Australian player scored 13 past American Samoa in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier. An elite group of players have scored 5 goals in a game during the decade, but none have done so in an international tournament like the World Cup, European Championships or the Copa America. Let us meet this exclusive group.
#10: Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United)
Ending an 11-game scoring drought in some style, Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov scored 5 past Blackburn Rovers in a Premier League game of the 2010-11 season. It made the Bulgarian player the first after Alan Shearer, Andy Cole, and Jermain Defoe to score 5 goals in a Premier League game.
# 9: Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid)
Radamel Falcao became the first player in a decade to score 5 goals in a Liga game when he did so in Atletico Madrid's 6-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna in the 2012-13 Liga season. Fernando Morientes was the last player to score a quintuplet in a Liga game. The Spanish striker scored 5 goals for Real Madrid against Las Palmas in a league game of the 2001-02 season. In the process, Falcao stole a march on the Liga's two all-time top-scorers Messi and Ronaldo by beating both to become the first player since Morientes to score 5 in a Liga game.
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