Erling Braut Haaland becomes the fourth teenager to score a hat-trick in the UEFA Champions League
19-year-old Norwegian Erling Braut Haaland scored three goals in Red Bull Salzburg's thumping 6-2 home win over Belgian side Genk in the opening matchday of the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League.
In the process, Haaland became the third-youngest scorer of a Champions League hat-trick, following Real Madrid legend Raúl Gonzalez (18 years 113 days) against Ferencváros in 1994-95, and Wayne Rooney (18 years 340 days) for Manchester United against Fenerbahce in 2004-05.
Haaland is one of only four teenagers to have scored three or more goals in a Champions League game, the other being Yakubu Ayegbeni (19 years 306 days) for Maccabi Haifa in 2002-03.
It is the 125th hat-trick in the Champions League and Haaland is the 91st different player in the competition to do so.
Haaland also became the third Norwegian player to net a Champions League hat-trick, the others being Sigurd Rushfeldt for Rosenborg in 1998-99 against Galatasaray and Frode Johnsen, also for Rosenborg, in 2000-01 against Helsingborg.
Haaland's three-goal haul made Salzburg the 46th different club and the first from Austria to have a player who has registered a hat-trick in a Champions League game. Barcelona (13) and Real Madrid (11) have the most hat-trick scorers by a club in the competition, followed by Bayern Munich (7) and the trio of Manchester United, Juventus, and Arsenal, with 6 apiece.
In all, 91 different players from 35 different countries have scored Champions League hat-tricks for 46 different clubs in the competition. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi (8 hat-tricks apiece) lead a group of 19 players to have scored multiple hat-tricks in the Champions League.
There have been 17 hat-tricks scored by Brazilian players in the competition, followed by Argentina (12) and France (10)