In football, the hat-trick sits apart from everything else. A brace is tidy; a hat-trick is an event. It demands sustained brilliance inside ninety minutes, not just a moment.
That Lionel Messi, widely considered the greatest player in the history of the sport, has scored 61 of them, across five decades of professional football and in front of crowds from the Camp Nou to Kansas City, is one of the game’s most astonishing statistical facts.
This article lists every official career hat-trick Messi has ever scored, broken down by club, competition, season, and opponent, and updated in full for 2026.
Lionel Messi Career Hat-Tricks Overview
Numbers alone cannot fully capture what Lionel Messi’s hat-trick record means to football, but they are a useful place to start.
As of 17 June 2026, Messi has scored 61 official hat-tricks across a senior career that began in late 2003 and shows no sign of ending any time soon.
He scores a hat-trick on average once every 19.0 games, a rate that no outfield player in the modern era comes close to matching over such a sustained period.
The numbers subdivide neatly. Fifty of those 61 hat-tricks came at club level: 48 for Barcelona in La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Spanish Super Cup, and the UEFA Champions League, plus two for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.
Eleven came on international duty with Argentina, making him the leading hat-trick scorer in South American men’s football history and one of the two greatest international hat-trick scorers in the world alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.
What those statistics cannot convey is the sheer variety. Messi has scored hat-tricks in El Clásico (against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou and at the Santiago Bernabéu), in World Cup qualifiers when Argentina’s 2018 World Cup spot was genuinely in danger, in Champions League knockout rounds against Arsenal and Ajax, and most recently in a FIFA World Cup group stage opener at 38 years old.
He has scored five in a single match twice — once against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2012 Champions League and once for Argentina against Estonia in 2022.
That no other player has achieved this range, this consistency, and this longevity in the hat-trick department is central to his claim as the greatest goalscorer in the history of the game.
| Statistic | Record |
| Official Hat-Tricks | 61 |
| Club Hat-Tricks | 50 |
| Argentina Hat-Tricks | 11 |
| First Hat-Trick | Real Madrid (2007) |
| Latest Hat-Trick | Algeria (2026 World Cup) |
| Five-Goal Matches | 2 |
Complete List of All 61 Lionel Messi Career Hat-Tricks
The table below includes every official Messi hat-trick in chronological order. All data is sourced from verified official competition records (UEFA, FIFA, La Liga, MLS, CONMEBOL) and verified statistical databases as of 17 June 2026.
| # | Date | Club / Country | Opponent | Competition | Result | Goals | Notes |
| 1 | 10 Mar 2007 | Barcelona | Real Madrid | La Liga | 3–3 | 3 | First career hat-trick; debut treble in El Clásico |
| 2 | 06 Jan 2009 | Barcelona | Atlético Madrid | Copa del Rey | W | 3 | |
| 3 | 10 Jan 2010 | Barcelona | Tenerife | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 4 | 14 Mar 2010 | Barcelona | Valencia | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 5 | 21 Mar 2010 | Barcelona | Real Zaragoza | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 6 | 06 Apr 2010 | Barcelona | Arsenal | Champions League | W | 4 | 4-goal QF performance at Camp Nou |
| 7 | 21 Aug 2010 | Barcelona | Sevilla | Spanish Super Cup | W | 3 | |
| 8 | 20 Nov 2010 | Barcelona | Almería | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 9 | 12 Jan 2011 | Barcelona | Real Betis | Copa del Rey | W | 3 | |
| 10 | 05 Feb 2011 | Barcelona | Atlético Madrid | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 11 | 17 Sep 2011 | Barcelona | Osasuna | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 12 | 24 Sep 2011 | Barcelona | Atlético Madrid | La Liga | W | 3 | Third hat-trick against Atlético |
| 13 | 29 Oct 2011 | Barcelona | Mallorca | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 14 | 01 Nov 2011 | Barcelona | Viktoria Plzeň | Champions League | W | 3 | All three with right foot — response to Pelé criticism |
| 15 | 22 Jan 2012 | Barcelona | Málaga | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 16 | 19 Feb 2012 | Barcelona | Valencia | La Liga | W | 4 | |
| 17 | 29 Feb 2012 | Argentina | Switzerland | Friendly | W | 3 | First international hat-trick |
| 18 | 07 Mar 2012 | Barcelona | Bayer Leverkusen | Champions League | W | 5 | 5 goals in one game — first career quintuple |
| 19 | 20 Mar 2012 | Barcelona | Granada | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 20 | 02 May 2012 | Barcelona | Málaga | La Liga | W | 3 | Part of record 73-goal season |
| 21 | 05 May 2012 | Barcelona | Espanyol | La Liga | W | 4 | |
| 22 | 09 Jun 2012 | Argentina | Brazil | Friendly | W | 3 | Hat-trick vs Brazil in a Superclásico de las Américas |
| 23 | 20 Oct 2012 | Barcelona | Deportivo La Coruña | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 24 | 27 Jan 2013 | Barcelona | Osasuna | La Liga | W | 4 | |
| 25 | 15 Jun 2013 | Argentina | Guatemala | Friendly | W | 3 | |
| 26 | 01 Sep 2013 | Barcelona | Valencia | La Liga | W | 3 | Third hat-trick against Valencia |
| 27 | 18 Sep 2013 | Barcelona | Ajax | Champions League | W | 3 | |
| 28 | 16 Mar 2014 | Barcelona | Osasuna | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 29 | 23 Mar 2014 | Barcelona | Real Madrid | La Liga | W 4–3 | 3 | Bernabéu hat-trick in legendary 4-3 victory |
| 30 | 22 Nov 2014 | Barcelona | Sevilla | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 31 | 25 Nov 2014 | Barcelona | APOEL | Champions League | W | 3 | All three goals with right foot |
| 32 | 07 Dec 2014 | Barcelona | Espanyol | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 33 | 18 Jan 2015 | Barcelona | Deportivo La Coruña | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 34 | 15 Feb 2015 | Barcelona | Levante | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 35 | 08 Mar 2015 | Barcelona | Rayo Vallecano | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 36 | 09 Jan 2016 | Barcelona | Granada | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 37 | 03 Feb 2016 | Barcelona | Valencia | Copa del Rey | W | 3 | |
| 38 | 03 Mar 2016 | Barcelona | Rayo Vallecano | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 39 | 11 Jun 2016 | Argentina | Panama | Copa América | W | 3 | Scored as substitute in final 29 mins; inc. free-kick |
| 40 | 13 Sep 2016 | Barcelona | Celtic | Champions League | W | 3 | |
| 41 | 19 Oct 2016 | Barcelona | Manchester City | Champions League | W | 3 | Hat-trick vs Guardiola’s City |
| 42 | 09 Sep 2017 | Barcelona | Espanyol | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 43 | 19 Sep 2017 | Barcelona | Eibar | La Liga | W | 4 | |
| 44 | 11 Oct 2017 | Argentina | Ecuador | WC Qualifier | W 3–1 | 3 | Kept Argentina in the 2018 WC; all three Messi goals |
| 45 | 07 Apr 2018 | Barcelona | Leganés | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 46 | 29 Apr 2018 | Barcelona | Deportivo La Coruña | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 47 | 30 May 2018 | Argentina | Haiti | Friendly | W | 3 | Pre-World Cup preparation |
| 48 | 18 Sep 2018 | Barcelona | PSV Eindhoven | Champions League | W | 3 | |
| 49 | 16 Dec 2018 | Barcelona | Levante | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 50 | 23 Feb 2019 | Barcelona | Sevilla | La Liga | W | 3 | Third hat-trick vs Sevilla |
| 51 | 17 Mar 2019 | Barcelona | Real Betis | La Liga | W | 3 | Iconic chip off crossbar for third goal |
| 52 | 09 Nov 2019 | Barcelona | Celta Vigo | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 53 | 07 Dec 2019 | Barcelona | Mallorca | La Liga | W | 3 | |
| 54 | 22 Feb 2020 | Barcelona | Eibar | La Liga | W | 4 | Last Barcelona hat-trick at Camp Nou |
| 55 | 10 Sep 2021 | Argentina | Bolivia | WC Qualifier | W | 3 | Broke Pelé’s South American goals record |
| 56 | 05 Jun 2022 | Argentina | Estonia | Friendly | W | 5 | 5-goal game; first quintuple for Argentina |
| 57 | 29 Mar 2023 | Argentina | Curaçao | Friendly | W | 3 | First hat-trick post-World Cup triumph |
| 58 | 15 Oct 2024 | Argentina | Bolivia | WC Qualifier | W 6–0 | 3 | 3rd CONMEBOL qualifier hat-trick; equalled Ronaldo intl. record |
| 59 | 19 Oct 2024 | Inter Miami | New England Revolution | MLS | W | 3 | First MLS hat-trick; scored as substitute |
| 60 | 18 Oct 2025 | Inter Miami | Nashville SC | MLS | W 5–2 | 3 | MLS Golden Boot-clinching performance |
| 61 | 16 Jun 2026 | Argentina | Algeria | World Cup | W 3–0 | 3 | First World Cup hat-trick; tied Klose’s all-time WC goals record (16) |
Lionel Messi Hat-Tricks by Club
Barcelona (48 hat-tricks)
Barcelona is where Messi became Messi, and the hat-trick record at the club is a reflection of that. His 48 Barcelona hat-tricks span 14 years, from a debut treble against Real Madrid in March 2007 to a four-goal showing against Eibar in February 2020, his last hat-trick before leaving the club in the summer of 2021.
The full range of opponents is remarkable. In La Liga alone he put three past Atlético Madrid three times, Valencia three times, Sevilla three times, Espanyol three times, Deportivo La Coruña three times, Osasuna three times, and Levante twice.
Real Madrid were on the receiving end of two. In the Champions League, Arsenal, Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Manchester City, PSV, Celtic, APOEL, and Viktoria Plzeň all conceded hat-tricks to him.
His peak hat-trick season at Barcelona was 2011–12: nine hat-tricks in a single calendar year, coinciding with his unprecedented 73-goal season across all competitions.
It is a number that requires context 73 goals in one season is a volume that no player in football history has matched.
He scored four times against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League round of 16 that March, and five days later he had his hat-trick against Valencia in the league.
No other outfield player has produced anything remotely comparable in the modern game.
PSG (0 hat-tricks)
Messi’s two seasons in Paris (2021–23) were difficult by his own exceptional standards.
He struggled with adaptation, injury, and the broader aesthetic mismatch between his game and what Ligue 1 defences allowed.
In 75 appearances across all competitions for PSG, he did not score a single hat-trick.
It remains one of the most striking footnotes in his career, the only club where the hat-trick sequence was completely absent.
Inter Miami (2 hat-tricks)
Since arriving in Florida in the summer of 2023, Messi has re-found something close to his best form.
His first MLS hat-trick arrived on 19 October 2024 against the New England Revolution, fittingly, as a substitute, the second time in his career he has achieved the feat coming off the bench.
His second MLS hat-trick came against Nashville SC in October 2025, a performance that clinched the MLS Golden Boot with 29 goals in 28 regular-season matches.
That 60th career hat-trick confirmed that the move to the United States has been a footballing second wind, not a farewell tour.
Argentina (11 hat-tricks)
Messi’s international hat-trick record is the most diverse of any player in South American men’s football history.
His 11 Argentina trebles span five different competition types: friendlies (5), World Cup qualifiers (3), Copa América (1), and the FIFA World Cup itself (1).
His opponents range from Guatemala in a 2013 friendly to Bolivia in the 2024 CONMEBOL qualifiers, and from Brazil in the 2012 Superclásico to Algeria at the 2026 World Cup.
He has scored international hat-tricks at 24, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, and 38 years of age, a longevity that defies physiological explanation.
| Club / Country | Hat-Tricks | Seasons / Period |
| Barcelona | 48 | 2007–2021 |
| Inter Miami | 2 | 2024–present |
| PSG | 0 | 2021–2023 |
| Argentina | 11 | 2012–2026 |
| Total | 61 | 2007–2026 |
Lionel Messi Hat-Tricks by Competition
| Competition | Hat-Tricks | Goals in HTs | Team |
| La Liga | 36 | 107 | Barcelona |
| UEFA Champions League | 8 | 26 | Barcelona |
| Copa del Rey | 3 | 9 | Barcelona |
| Spanish Super Cup | 1 | 3 | Barcelona |
| International Friendlies | 5 | 17 | Argentina |
| World Cup Qualifiers (CONMEBOL) | 3 | 9 | Argentina |
| Copa América | 1 | 3 | Argentina |
| FIFA World Cup | 1 | 3 | Argentina |
| MLS (Major League Soccer) | 2 | 6 | Inter Miami |
| Total | 61 | 183+ |
La Liga dominates simply because it was where Messi spent the vast majority of his career and where the opposition volume was highest.
His 36 La Liga hat-tricks are the most in the competition’s history, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo (34) and far beyond any other player who has scored more than 23.
In the Champions League, his eight hat-tricks place him level with Ronaldo at the top of the European competition’s all-time hat-trick list.
The Copa del Rey hat-tricks are often overlooked but significant — particularly the 2009 performance against Atlético Madrid and the 2016 treble against Valencia.
His Spanish Super Cup hat-trick came against Sevilla in August 2010 as part of one of football’s most dominant team periods.
Lionel Messi Hat-Tricks by Season
| Calendar Year | Hat-Tricks | Notable Achievement |
| 2007 | 1 | First career hat-trick (vs Real Madrid) |
| 2008 | 0 | — |
| 2009 | 1 | Copa del Rey treble vs Atlético |
| 2010 | 4 | Including 4-goal UCL night vs Arsenal |
| 2011 | 4 | 3 in La Liga, 1 in UCL (Plzeň) |
| 2012 | 9 | Peak year; 5 goals vs Leverkusen; first intl. hat-trick |
| 2013 | 3 | Including UCL treble vs Ajax |
| 2014 | 3 | Bernabéu hat-trick in 4–3 win |
| 2015 | 4 | Part of treble-winning season |
| 2016 | 5 | Copa América hat-trick vs Panama; 3 UCL hat-tricks |
| 2017 | 3 | Ecuador WC qualifier thriller |
| 2018 | 3 | UCL hat-trick vs PSV |
| 2019 | 4 | Real Betis chip; 51 career hat-tricks by end of year |
| 2020 | 1 | Last Barcelona hat-trick (vs Eibar, 4 goals) |
| 2021 | 1 | WC qualifier vs Bolivia; broke Pelé’s SA goals record |
| 2022 | 1 | 5-goal game vs Estonia; World Cup winner |
| 2023 | 1 | First post-WC hat-trick (vs Curaçao) |
| 2024 | 2 | WC qualifier vs Bolivia; first MLS hat-trick |
| 2025 | 1 | MLS Golden Boot-sealing treble vs Nashville |
| 2026 | 1 | World Cup hat-trick vs Algeria; tied Klose’s WC record (16 goals) |
The 2012 figure of nine hat-tricks in a single calendar year stands alone in modern football history.
It coincided with his remarkable 91-goal calendar year across club and country. Unusually, his hat-trick output has remained consistent long after his supposed peak.
He scored hat-tricks in 2024, 2025, and 2026, confirming that this is not a chapter closing but an extraordinary story still being written.
Lionel Messi Hat-Tricks by Opponent
| Opponent | Hat-Tricks | Competitions |
| Atlético Madrid | 3 | La Liga (×2), Copa del Rey (×1) |
| Valencia | 3 | La Liga (×2), Copa del Rey (×1) |
| Sevilla | 3 | La Liga (×2), Spanish Super Cup (×1) |
| Osasuna | 3 | La Liga (×3) |
| Espanyol | 3 | La Liga (×3) |
| Deportivo La Coruña | 3 | La Liga (×3) |
| Real Madrid | 2 | La Liga (×2) |
| Málaga | 2 | La Liga (×2) |
| Mallorca | 2 | La Liga (×2) |
| Eibar | 2 | La Liga (×2) |
| Levante | 2 | La Liga (×2) |
| Bolivia | 2 | WC Qualifiers (×2) |
| Rayo Vallecano | 2 | La Liga (×2) |
| Arsenal, Ajax, Leverkusen, PSV, APOEL, Celtic, Man City, Plzeň | 1 each | Champions League |
| Bolivia, Ecuador, Switzerland, Brazil, Guatemala, Haiti, Curaçao, Estonia, Panama, Algeria | 1 each | Various international |
The fact that Atlético Madrid, Valencia, and Sevilla are three of the most defensively organised sides in La Liga history, all concede three Messi hat-tricks each tells you something important about the limits of organisation against individual genius.
Ironically, Real Madrid, who shared so many of the headlines during the Messi-Ronaldo era, were only on the receiving end twice.
What makes those two especially memorable is the stage: one at the Camp Nou in a 3-3 draw, and one at the Bernabéu in a 4-3 thriller that ranks among the greatest El Clásico results in Barcelona’s history.
Messi’s Greatest Hat-Tricks
vs Bayer Leverkusen — Champions League Round of 16
- 7 March 2012
- Camp Nou, Barcelona
- 7–1
- 5 Goals
This is the night that made even the most hardened football observers stop and reassess what was happening.
Barcelona won 7–1 on the night, and Messi scored five, the only time a player has scored five in a single Champions League knockout match.
He finished the tie with seven goals across two legs. The performance came in the midst of a calendar year (2012) in which he would score 91 goals.
It was not just a record, it was evidence that the sport’s records were struggling to keep up with what he was doing.
vs Real Madrid — La Liga (El Clásico)
- Date: 23 March 2014
- Venue: Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid
- Result: 4–3
- Goals: 3
Scoring a hat-trick at the Bernabéu in a match that finishes 4-3 is the kind of performance that gets immortalised.
Messi scored all three Barcelona goals in a see-saw thriller, with his side coming from behind to win at the ground where Barcelona wins are always celebrated twice as loudly.
It remains one of the two greatest El Clásico performances of his career.
vs Arsenal — Champions League Quarter-Final
- Date: 6 April 2010
- Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona
- Result: 4–1
- Goals: 4
When Nicklas Bendtner put Arsenal ahead inside the Camp Nou, one of the great Champions League upsets seemed possible.
Messi answered by scoring four goals, including a chip over Manuel Almunia that has been played back millions of times.
Barcelona won the tie 6-3 on aggregate. It was only his sixth career hat-trick but it announced him on the European stage in a way that removed any remaining doubt about his continental status.
vs Ecuador — FIFA World Cup Qualifier
- Date: 11 October 2017
- Venue: Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito
- Result: 1–3
- Goals: 3
Context elevates this to something extraordinary. Argentina went into this match in Quito at an altitude of over 2,800 metres above sea level in danger of missing the 2018 World Cup for the first time since 1970.
They went 1-0 down. Messi, struggling with the thin air that hampers most players, scored all three goals in a 3-1 win that sent Argentina to Russia.
Without this night, there is no 2022 World Cup triumph. The consequences stretch across football history.
vs Bolivia — World Cup Qualifier (record-breaker)
- Date: 10 September 2021
- Venue: Buenos Aires
- Result: 3–0
- Goals: 3
The hat-trick itself was memorable. But it is what the third goal meant that puts it here.
With that strike, Messi surpassed Pelé’s South American men’s international goals record, becoming the all-time leading scorer on the continent.
The weight of that achievement, overtaking Pelé, is genuinely difficult to process. It may be the single most historically significant international goal any player has scored.
vs Panama — Copa América 2016
- Date: 11 June 2016
- Venue: Soldier Field, Chicago
- Result: 5–0
- G/A: 3 Goals + 2 Assists
Messi came on as a substitute with 29 minutes to play. By the time the final whistle blew, he had scored three and assisted two, one of the most dominant substitute appearances in international football history.
The hat-trick included a stunning free-kick. This performance became a Guinness World Record for most goals scored by a substitute in a Copa América match.
vs Estonia — International Friendly
- Date: 5 June 2022
- Venue: Pamplona, Spain
- Result: 5–0
- Goals: 5
Five goals in a single international match for any outfield player is extraordinary. For a 34-year-old in a pre-World Cup friendly, days before he would go and lift the trophy in Qatar, it was a statement.
It remains the only time Messi has scored five in a match for Argentina.
The performance generated renewed conversation about whether any player in history at any age, has ever maintained this level for this long.
vs Algeria — FIFA World Cup 2026, Group J
- Date: 16 June 2026
- Venue: Kansas City Stadium, Kansas City
- Result: 3–0
- Goals: 3
This one rewrote the record books in real time. At 38 years and 357 days old, Messi scored his first-ever FIFA World Cup hat-trick to open Argentina’s title defence against Algeria.
The three goals took him to 16 all-time World Cup goals, level with Miroslav Klose’s standing record.
It came exactly 20 years to the day after his World Cup debut against Serbia and Montenegro in 2006, he scored in that match, too. No player in history has scored in five different World Cups.
By the 78th minute he had been substituted off, hat-trick complete, and the entire Kansas City crowd was on its feet.
vs Real Betis — La Liga
- Date: 17 March 2019
- Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona
- Result: 4–1
- Goals: 3 Goals
The first and second goals were good. The third was something else entirely: collecting a pass from Ivan Rakitic, Messi chipped Pau López’s crossbar with perfect execution from 20 yards, the ball bouncing down and in. He was already celebrating before it crossed the line.
This was his 51st career hat-trick and confirmed that his technical range, the sheer variety of ways he scores, has no equivalent in football history.
vs Viktoria Plzeň — Champions League
- Date: 1 November 2011
- Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona
- Result: 4–0
- Goals: 3 (all right foot)
Pelé had publicly suggested that Messi was one-footed. Messi responded by setting up Suárez for the first goal, then scoring three in succession entirely with his right foot.
The timing, the fact of who had spoken, and the manner of the response placed this hat-trick into the category of footballing statements. Messi said nothing. He just played.
Lionel Messi Hat-Trick Records
La Liga
Messi’s 36 La Liga hat-tricks are the most in the history of the competition. Second place belongs to Cristiano Ronaldo with 34 for Real Madrid.
No other player has broken 23. Messi averaged a La Liga hat-trick every 11.4 league matches during his 17-season spell at Barcelona, a figure that does not belong in the same statistical universe as any other player who has played in the league.
UEFA Champions League
Eight Champions League hat-tricks place Messi level with Ronaldo at the competition’s all-time record.
What makes Messi’s eight especially notable is the quality of the opposition: all eight came against established European clubs with organised, experienced defences.
Arsenal (4 goals), Manchester City, Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen (5 goals), PSV, Celtic, APOEL, and Viktoria Plzeň all conceded at least three to him in a single Champions League match.
International Hat-Tricks
Eleven international hat-tricks make Messi the all-time leading international hat-trick scorer in South American football, ahead of Pelé (7) and Ali Daei (8).
Globally, he shares the record among active players with Cristiano Ronaldo (also 11). He holds the record outright for CONMEBOL World Cup qualification hat-tricks (3).
Youngest and Oldest
Messi scored his first career hat-trick at 19 years and 163 days against Real Madrid on 10 March 2007. His most recent came at 38 years and 357 days at the 2026 World Cup against Algeria.
That is a span of nearly 20 years between first and latest hat-tricks, which may be the widest career arc of any comparable hat-trick scorer in football history.
Most Goals in a Single Match
Messi has scored five goals in one match twice, against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012 and against Estonia in 2022. He has scored four goals in a single match on six occasions.
No player in Champions League history has scored five in a knockout match.
Hat-Tricks as a Substitute
Messi has scored hat-tricks as a substitute twice — against Panama at the 2016 Copa América (coming on with 29 minutes to play) and against New England Revolution in MLS in October 2024.
Scoring three goals in under 30 minutes as a substitute is an extraordinary feat even once; doing it twice across a career, and in different decades, is evidence of something closer to a law of nature than football form.
Fastest Hat-Trick
While exact timing data varies by source, Messi’s Copa América hat-trick against Panama in 2016, scored in approximately 25 minutes of playing time as a substitute, represents his most compressed scoring performance in a hat-trick context, though definitive fastest hat-trick data by stoppage time is not uniformly recorded across all competitions.
Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo Hat-Tricks
These two players have defined football for two decades, and the hat-trick debate is one of the most legitimate comparative exercises their rivalry produces. The numbers are closer than the casual narrative sometimes suggests.
| Category | Lionel Messi | Cristiano Ronaldo |
| Total hat-tricks | 61 | 66 |
| Club hat-tricks | 50 | 55 |
| International hat-tricks | 11 | 11 |
| Champions League | 8 | 8 |
| Hat-tricks in top domestic league | 36 (La Liga) | 34 (La Liga) |
| First hat-trick | Mar 2007 | Nov 2007 |
| Latest hat-trick (as of Jun 2026) | Jun 2026 (WC vs Algeria) | Dec 2024 (Saudi Pro League) |
| Hat-tricks per game average | 1 per 19.0 games | 1 per 20.1 games |
| 5-goal games | 2 | 2 |
| Hat-tricks as substitute | 2 | 0 |
| World Cup hat-tricks | 1 | 0 |
| Hat-tricks including penalties | 23.0% of all hat-tricks | ~34% of all hat-tricks |
| Hat-tricks in away games | 20 (32.8%) | 23 (34.8%) |
Ronaldo leads the total count (66 to 61), but Messi leads in several qualitative categories.
He averages hat-tricks more frequently, has more La Liga hat-tricks, has scored hat-tricks as a substitute (twice, compared to Ronaldo’s zero), and, as of June 2026, has scored a World Cup hat-trick where Ronaldo has not.
Messi also has proportionally fewer penalty-assisted hat-tricks (23% versus Ronaldo’s approximately 34%), suggesting a higher percentage of his hat-tricks are built entirely from open play.
The stylistic difference between them is also relevant to how hat-tricks accumulate. Ronaldo’s game was always more physically direct — aerial ability, power, finishing from range.
His hat-tricks reflect that: they tend to include headers, long shots, and penalties at a higher rate.
Messi’s hat-tricks more frequently involve dribbles, assists from teammates exploiting his movement, and goals that require no template because they have never been scored in quite that way before.
Neither player’s record diminishes the other. Together, they account for 127 career hat-tricks — more than the combined total of any other two players in football history.
Interesting Facts About Lionel Messi’s Hat-Tricks
- First career hat-trick against Real Madrid: Messi chose the biggest possible stage for his debut treble — El Clásico on 10 March 2007, aged 19. Barcelona drew 3–3, with Messi scoring all three Barça goals.
- Scored hat-tricks across five different decades: From 2007 (his 20s) to 2026 (his late 30s), Messi’s scoring has been consistent across what amounts to two distinct professional career arcs.
- Only player with a World Cup hat-trick at age 38: His 2026 treble against Algeria made him the oldest player in men’s World Cup history to score both a brace and a hat-trick in a single match.
- Zero hat-tricks for PSG in 75 appearances: The only club in his professional career where no hat-trick was recorded, making PSG the exception that underlines how unusual that two-year spell was.
- Two five-goal games: Bayer Leverkusen (UCL, 2012) and Estonia (friendly, 2022) are the only two occasions he has scored five in one match — achievements separated by exactly ten years.
- Hat-trick as substitute (twice): Copa América 2016 vs Panama and MLS 2024 vs New England Revolution — both times coming on with the match partially played and still scoring three.
- Most hat-tricks in La Liga history: 36, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo (34). No other player is within 13 of that total.
- Hat-trick that broke Pelé’s South American record: The third goal against Bolivia in September 2021 took Messi past the Brazilian legend’s international goals tally for South American men’s players.
- His hat-trick vs Ecuador in Quito (2017) arguably kept Argentina in the World Cup: Without that performance at altitude, Argentina would likely have missed the 2018 tournament — and there is no path to the 2022 title without 2018 qualification.
- All eight Champions League hat-tricks came at Barcelona: He never scored a UCL hat-trick for PSG or Inter Miami, meaning all eight came within a very specific, specific footballing context.
- Atlético Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, Osasuna, Espanyol, and Deportivo each conceded three hat-tricks: Six clubs have suffered the ignominy of facing Messi hat-tricks on three separate occasions across his career.
- Hat-tricks involving penalties — only 23%: Fewer than one in four of his hat-tricks included a penalty, suggesting the trebles are predominantly built on open play and free-kick goals.
- 20 hat-tricks scored away from home: His 32.8% away hat-trick rate demonstrates that the comfort of the Camp Nou was not a prerequisite for his goalscoring explosions.
- His first World Cup hat-trick came 20 years to the day after his World Cup debut: 16 June 2006 (debut vs Serbia and Montenegro, scored) and 16 June 2026 (three goals vs Algeria). Football could not script that.
- Hat-trick vs Brazil (2012): Scoring a hat-trick against Brazil in the Superclásico de las Américas remains one of the most quietly iconic international performances of his career, often overshadowed by the events around it.
- 9 hat-tricks in calendar year 2012: The most hat-tricks by any player in a single calendar year in the modern professional game — part of the extraordinary 91-goal calendar year.
- His latest hat-trick tied Klose’s World Cup goals record: The third goal against Algeria put him at 16 World Cup goals, level with Miroslav Klose’s all-time record — with matches still to play in the 2026 tournament.
- Career span between first and latest hat-trick: 19 years, 97 days. From March 2007 to June 2026. The breadth of that timeline alone is a record.
Conclusion
Sixty-one hat-tricks. Two different continents. Six clubs and one national team. Nineteen years and counting.
What makes Lionel Messi’s hat-trick record genuinely extraordinary is not the volume, though the volume is extraordinary, but the consistency of that consistency.
He has scored hat-tricks in El Clásico, in Champions League knockout ties against Premier League clubs, in World Cup qualifiers at high altitude with Argentina on the brink, and at 38 years old in the greatest football tournament on earth.
Across every context, every pressure, every chapter of his career, the scoreline finds a way to show three goals next to his name.
His record at Barcelona may never be meaningfully approached. Thirty-six La Liga hat-tricks. Eight in the Champions League.
A 14-year run through the best defences in Europe in which the question was never whether he would score but how many.
The PSG interlude, with no hat-tricks in two seasons, only emphasises how unusual that Barcelona period was.
At Inter Miami, hat-tricks in 2024 and 2025 have demonstrated that this was not a retirement announcement but a second act.
And then the 2026 World Cup opener against Algeria. At 38. First World Cup hat-trick. Tying the all-time World Cup goals record.
On the 20th anniversary of his World Cup debut. If this truly is his final chapter, he is writing it in the style that only he has ever written in.
There will be statistical debates about hat-trick totals for as long as football is played. Ronaldo may extend his record.
Other players will emerge. But the likelihood that another footballer will match Messi’s range league and European hat-tricks against the best clubs, international hat-tricks against major national teams, World Cup hat-tricks at 38, and a career hat-trick rate that no contemporary has come close to is, at this point in football history, essentially zero.
The hat-trick record is not the best argument for Messi as the greatest player who ever lived. But it is one of the most useful because it quantifies, even imperfectly, what his genius looked like when it truly ignited.
Related: Explore our complete guides to the UEFA Champions League Winners List, the UEFA Conference League Winners List, the Ballon d’Or Winners List, and the La Liga Winners List, and league champions from England, Spain, Italy, Germany, and beyond.
