Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo: Who has scored more hat tricks for club and country?
Footballing greats Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are two of the most lethal goalscorers of this generation, having scored over 800 goals each in their careers for club and country.
Their goalscoring exploits have seen them set numerous records and milestones, including some of the highest number of hat-tricks.
Messi bagged a treble with Argentina on Tuesday (March 28) in their 7-0 thrashing of Curacao, bringing his total hat-tricks tally to 57. That's the most in the 21st century, behind only his arch-rival, Ronaldo, who leads with 62.
Most of Messi's hat-tricks have unsurprisingly come for Barcelona, where he played for 17 years before joining Paris Saint-Germain in 2021. During that period, the Argentine struck 48 trebles for the club, including a record 36 in La Liga. However, he's yet to score one with the Parisians.
All his remaining nine hat-tricks have come in Argentine colors, including his latest one against Curacao which also saw him surpass the 100-goal mark, becoming just the third player to do it.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, is ahead of him on international hat-tricks too with 10 for Portugal, while leading the all-time record with 122 goals. Of the remaining 52, the Portuguese has bagged at least twice with every club he's played for.
At Real Madrid, where he enjoyed the most prolific spell of his career, Ronaldo bagged 44 hat-tricks, including 34 in the Spanish top division. The 38-year-old has bagged three hat-tricks each for Juventus and Manchester United, while two more have come with his latest side, Al-Nassr, including a four-goal salvo.
Given their rich vein of form right now, it's likely that Messi and Ronaldo are going to bag a few more in their illustrious careers before hanging up their boots as the GOATs show no signs of stopping.
Messi and Ronaldo enjoy productive international breaks
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have both scored four goals each with their respective national teams in two games this month.
Messi netted late on against Panama before scoring a hat-trick against Curacao, while Ronaldo netted twice each against Liechtenstein and Luxembourg.
Both players came into the break on the back of a good scoring form with their clubs and certainly carried that into the international break too.