The UEFA Champions League is regarded as the strongest and certainly most lucrative club competition in the world.
However, its expansion in the 21st century has undeniably diluted its quality, with the gulf between Europe’s best and those who claw their way onto the big stage far greater than it ever was.
Thus, the modern-day sharpshooter has chances aplenty to rack up outstanding scoring tallies in this competition, with rapid hat-tricks far from a eclipse-like phenomenon.
It should come as no surprise that seven of the eight fastest hat-tricks (meaning time between first and third goals, in this case) in Champions League history have been scored since 2011. Only one, meanwhile, has arrived in the knockout stages, when the competition stiffens.
Here are the Champions League’s fastest-ever hat-tricks.
8. Luiz Adriano – 12 Minutes (October 2014)
One of Shakhtar Donetsk’s many Brazilians embarked on a record-breaking night in Belarus, as Luiz Adriano not only scored a rapid-fire hat-trick, but he also became, at the time, the second player to score five goals in a single Champions League game and the first to score four in the first half.
The first? Lionel Messi, of course. Erling Haaland has since joined the pair as well.
Adriano’s hat-trick needed just 12 minutes. During his blitz, the striker became Shakhtar’s all-time record goalscorer, which he remains to this day.
Poor BATE. The Belarusians haven’t been seen in the Champions League proper since 2016.
7. Robert Lewandowski – 12 Minutes (November 2019)
Robert Lewandowski is one of just three players to score at least 100 Champions League goals, although it looks like he’ll end his career as the third leading scorer in the competition.
The Pole also ranks third with six hat-tricks on the big continental stage, with Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo leading the way with eight each.
Lewandowski memorably scored five times in a little over nine minutes in a Bundesliga rout of Wolfsburg back in 2015, where he required just three to net his hat-trick.
The prolific forward does have a couple of swift Champions League hat-tricks, but none that briskly.
In November 2019, Lewandowski’s three goals within 12 second-half minutes took the game beyond Red Star Belgrade, and he netted a fourth just three minutes after his third strike in Bayern Munich’s 6–0 win.
6. Robert Lewandowski – 11 Minutes (March 2022)
We’re very much familiar with Lewandowski’s ruthless efficiency, synonymous with the club where he completed most of his Champions League destruction.
This speedy hat-trick is the only one on our list that came in the knockout stages, with Bayern welcoming RB Salzburg to the Allianz Arena, having drawn the first leg of their round of 16 tie in 2021–22 1–1.
However, Die Roten have a knack for tearing teams apart on home soil, and the Austrians were no match for Lewandowski and company in the return leg.
On this occasion, the striker’s goals set the tone for what would be a miserable night for Salzburg. His two penalties helped Bayern into a 2–0 lead within 21 minutes, and he soon knew he’d be taking the match ball home. The Polish hitman completed his hat-trick 11 minutes after he coolly dispatched his first penalty amid Bayern’s 7–1 rout with a rather fortuitous finish off the post.
5. Cristiano Ronaldo – 11 Minutes (December 2015)
Record-winners Real Madrid are one of two clubs to win a Champions League match by an eight-goal margin, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the competition’s all-time record goalscorer had his fingerprints all over the rout.
This was the fastest of Cristiano Ronaldo’s eight Champions League hat-tricks, with the Portuguese great scoring three times between the 39th and 50th minutes, so he did have the halftime break to rejuvenate against a Malmo side that were already 3–0 down.
Two of Ronaldo’s strikes should’ve been dealt with by Swedish goalkeeper Johan Wiland, including a free-kick which bounced over his gloves. The other was a tap-in from close range, and the Madrid superstar would score his fourth before the hour mark.
4. Raheem Sterling – 11 Minutes (October 2019)
Raheem Sterling would, perhaps cruelly, never get his hands on the Champions League trophy at Manchester City. They were beaten finalists in 2021, and Sterling was sold to Chelsea the summer before their treble-winning campaign of 2022–23.
The Englishman has an impressive record in the competition, scoring 27 times in 88 games, all while notching 23 assists, too.
Some of his finest work on this stage came against an Atalanta side that would soon be recognised as the very best of Gian Piero Gasperini’s reign. La Dea were minutes away from reaching the semifinals in 2020, while City’s journey concluded off the back of a woeful Sterling miss in the last eight against Lyon.
Before that, though, the winger helped City complete their emphatic comeback against Gasperini’s side at the Etihad in the group stage. After Sergio Agüero scored twice, Sterling recorded an 11-minute hat-trick at the start of the second half.
3. Mike Newell – 9 Minutes (December 1995)
English clubs were pretty dire in Europe throughout the 90s, until Manchester United completed their historic treble in the final year of the Millennium.
Blackburn Rovers qualified for their first and only Champions League run after winning the Premier League in 1995, but their campaign was wretched outside of a 4–1 victory over Rosenborg.
During their sole triumph in this competition, Mike Newell made history. His nine-minute hat-trick was "perfect": left-foot, right-foot, header. Blackburn exited on a high, never to be seen again.
Newell’s record stood for 16 years.
2. Bafétimbi Gomis – 8 Minutes (December 2011)
Most Premier League supporters will remember Bafétimbi Gomis for his iconic panther celebration, because his time with Swansea City was otherwise forgettable.
However, before he ventured over to English shores, Gomis was a fairly reliable goalscorer for one of France’s biggest clubs. Lyon were Champions League regulars throughout the noughties, and Gomis joined them in 2009.
His five-year career with Les Gones ended with 23 Champions League appearances and nine goals, a third of which arrived in one fell swoop against Dinamo Zagreb in December 2011. Gomis’ three strikes came inside eight minutes and 45 seconds on either side of half-time.
Like a few on this list, Gomis would later add a fourth to his tally, meaning almost half of his career Champions League goals arrived on this evening in the Croatian capital.
1. Mohamed Salah – 7 Minutes (October 2022)
When Liverpool faced off against Galatasaray in Gameweek 2 of the 2025–26 league phase, Arne Slot decided to leave Mohamed Salah out of the Reds’ Champions League starting XI (for a non-dead rubber) for the first time since he did this.
Salah’s form was a concern when Jürgen Klopp’s side travelled up to Ibrox in October 2022, and the German’s decision to bench the Egyptian proved to be a masterstroke.
Liverpool, as a collective, found their shooting boots after the interval, and Salah’s arrival for the final quarter of the contest turned a comfortable away win into a rout. His first, a clever toe-poked finish, was scored in the 75th minute. His second was scored in the 80th, and number three breached Allan McGregor’s defences in minute 81.
It’s a record that will take some beating, but with more teams entering the competition and the quality gap widening, don’t write it off.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fastest Champions League Hat-Tricks of All Time.