Just in case you weren’t aware, football at the elite level is bloody difficult and it doesn’t get much tougher than the UEFA Champions League.
This competition is the apex of club football, where the best-of-the-best collide in a bid to further enhance their legacies in the sport.
Scoring goals in the Champions League is not easy. Sure, the level of defending in the modern day may occasionally cause Franco Baresi to shed a tear or two, but those tasked with shutting out the folk that seek to entertain are far from incompetent.
Nevertheless, despite the best efforts of defenders and opposing managers, there are some that fall under the ‘impossible to stop’ bracket. The bright lights of the Champions League bring the best out in them, and they enjoy performances that leave us in a state of awe.
No, we’re not talking about those that merely scored three times in a single continental outing. In fact, not even four strikes are sufficient. We want five.
Only three players in Champions League history have scored five goals in one game. Here they are.
Barcelona 7-1 Bayer Leverkusen – Last 16 second leg – 08/03/2012
Barcelona’s 2011/12 campaign would culminate with Fernando Torres rounding Victor Valdes and a Gary Neville squeal, but their lead protagonist would embark on yet another magical continental journey which peaked in the first knockout round.
Lionel Messi put the finishing touches on Barça‘s 3-1 triumph over Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their round of 16 tie before he became the first player in Champions League history to score five goals in a single game as the German outfit visited Camp Nou.
Two of his five strikes were subtle dinks over Bernd Leno, the second of which was with his ‘weaker’ right foot. Two finishes were emphatic from inside the box, and he capitalised on some poor goalkeeping to tap home his fourth goal of the night.
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BATE Borisov 0-7 Shakhtar Donetsk – Group stage – 21/10/2014
Luiz Adriano must be public enemy number one in Borisov after he scored eight times in two meetings against BATE during the 2014/15 group stage.
The Brazilian’s quintet of strikes in Belarus were hardly memorable (two penalties and three tap-ins) but he joined Messi in the five-goal club nonetheless. Two weeks later he bagged another hat trick – just the…
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