Federico Valverde joins Lionel Messi in Champions League hat-trick record that Cristiano Ronaldo never achieved

The Round of 16 of the Champions League features a marquee showdown between Real Madrid and Manchester City. In that clash, Los Blancos took a valuable lead at home thanks to a hat trick from Federico Valverde, sparking comparisons with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Valverde scored three goals during the first half against the Citizens at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, allowing his team to head into halftime in a promising position. On an individual level, the Uruguayan midfielder reached a milestone that very few players had achieved before.

Only four times in Champions League history had a player scored a hat trick in a knockout-stage match before halftime, according to statistics expert Mister Chip on X. Lionel Messi is on that list, alongside Robert Lewandowski, Erling Haaland, and Anthony Gordon. Valverde has now joined that exclusive group as well.

What makes the achievement by the Real Madrid player especially impressive is that he is the only member of this select group who is not a forward, but a midfielder. And not only that. His profile is often more associated with work rate, tactical discipline, and defensive responsibilities, to the point that he has occasionally been used as a full-back.

Gordon and Haaland have special records

Within the group of five players who have scored hat tricks in the first half of a knockout match, Anthony Gordon stands out for being the only one who scored not just three but four goals before halftime.

That happened in this same edition of the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League, during the playoff series in which Newcastle United defeated Qarabag FK. In the first leg played in Azerbaijan, the English winger scored four goals in the first half and helped his team secure a 6-1 win, which later translated into a 9-3 aggregate victory.

Another player with a unique detail in this comparison is Erling Haaland. He is the only player on this list to have scored a first-half hat trick in the Champions League on two different occasions. One of those came during the group stage, when Red Bull Salzburg faced KRC Genk in the 2019-20 season. Later, with Manchester City against RB Leipzig in 2022-23, he achieved the same feat in the knockout stages.

The Messi–Ronaldo comparison

It is no coincidence that the three players with the most goals in Champions League history are also the ones who have scored the most hat tricks in the competition. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo share the lead with eight each, although the Argentine forward holds a particular advantage.

On one of those occasions, Messi scored all three goals before halftime. It happened in the 2009-10 season, when Barcelona defeated Arsenal 4-1 at Camp Nou in the quarterfinals. Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, has never scored a hat trick in the first half of a Champions League match. Finally, Robert Lewandowski achieved the feat once with Bayern Munich, against Red Bull Salzburg in the 2021-22 season.