Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah share rare achievement after stunning Galatasaray hat-trick

Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah have been linked by another unusual chapter in their careers after Salah produced a stunning individual performance against Galatasaray. The Egyptian forward’s latest display in Turkey placed him in an exclusive group that includes the Portuguese superstar, with only a handful of players having achieved the same feat against the Istanbul giant since the turn of the century.

Salah scored three times and added an assist as Trabzonspor secured a remarkable 4-0 victory over Galatasaray. The performance continued his outstanding start to life in the Super Lig, with the 34-year-old now leading the scoring charts after only six league appearances.

Salah’s hat-trick was the highlight of a dominant performance from Trabzonspor. The Egypt captain produced two excellent solo efforts before completing his treble, while his assist added another contribution to an unforgettable evening.

The result was particularly striking given Galatasaray‘s recent domestic dominance. The club had won the previous four Turkish league titles under Okan Buruk, but it had no answer for Salah as Trabzonspor produced one of its biggest statements of the season.

The Egyptian has quickly found his rhythm following his summer move from Liverpool after nine years at the English club. He has now scored seven goals in his first six Super Lig matches, making him the league’s leading scorer at this stage of the campaign.

Salah joins Ronaldo in exclusive 21st-century list

The significance of Salah’s three goals goes beyond the result. He became only the seventh player since 2000 to score a hat-trick against Galatasaray, joining a select group that includes Ronaldo. Ronaldo achieved the feat during his Real Madrid years in 2013, scoring three times as the La Liga giant demolished Galatasaray 6-1 in the Champions League. More than a decade later, Salah has now matched one of the most prolific scorers in soccer history.

The list is particularly exclusive because Galatasaray has faced some of the biggest names in European soccer during that period. Yet only seven players have managed to score three times against the Turkish outfit in a single match since 2000. The Portuguese superstar’s performance against Galatasaray came during Real Madrid’s 2013-14 Champions League campaign.

He scored a hat-trick in Istanbul as Real Madrid cruised to a 6-1 victory, with Karim Benzema also scoring twice and Isco adding another. It was another reminder of Ronaldo’s extraordinary ability to produce on Europe’s biggest stage. His three goals helped the club make an emphatic start to the Champions League campaign and added another memorable hat-trick to his already enormous collection.

The feat has remained rare since then. Only Rodrygo has also scored a hat-trick against Galatasaray while representing Los Blancos, doing so in a 6-0 victory in 2019.

Who else has scored a hat-trick against Galatasaray?

The seven-player list stretches across several competitions and clubs. Emanuel Adebayor appears twice, having scored hat-tricks for Istanbul Basaksehir in April and November 2017. Danny Welbeck also reached the milestone in 2014, while Stanislav Sestak did so in 2011. Eran Zahavi became the most recent player to accomplish the feat before Salah, scoring three times for PSV in 2021 Champions League qualifying.

Salah’s inclusion therefore puts him alongside an unusual mixture of Premier League stars, Real Madrid legends and players who made their mark in Turkish soccer. Ronaldo remains the biggest name on the list, but Salah has now added his own remarkable chapter.