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La Liga is considered in the same bracket as Premier League by football fans and expert. Only the very best can survive and make a mark in Spain due to the league’s extremely competitive nature. Spanish clubs are known for their attacking brand of football and hence tons of goals are scored every season in La Liga. A hat-trick is a truly special feat in any competition, more so in La Liga which has a lot of top draw players such as Lionel Messi. In this article, we will look at five footballers who have scored the most hat-tricks in La Liga.
#5 Mundo – 19
Regarded by many as Valencia CF’s greatest ever player, Edmundo Suarez is still remembered for his exploits in front of the goal by the Mestalla faithful. He won three La Liga titles and two Copa Del Rey honours during his time at Valencia. His first hat-trick came against Espanyol in a 3-2 victory for Valencia on April 7, 1940.
Mundo scored two phenomenal hat-tricks in the 1942-43 season. First, he scored four goals against Oviedo, then outdid himself by scoring a joint-record six goals against Real Betis. Totally, he has scored 186 goals for Valencia, a club record.
#4 Alfredo di Stefano – 22
Alfredo di Stefano is often credited as the player who made Madrid a continental superpower but his domestic exploits also deserve a mention. He scored 22 hat-tricks for Los Blancos in La Liga with his very first coming against city rivals Atletico Madrid in 1953. He has scored four goals in a La Liga game four times, including twice against Espanyol. His last La-Liga hat-trick came against Murcia, a few weeks before his departure from Real Madrid.
#3 Telmo Zarra – 23
Athletic Bilbao’s all-time top scorer, Telmo Zarra won five Copa Del Rey titles and one La Liga championship during his time at the Basque country. Zarra’s first hat-trick came against Celta Vigo in a record 10-0 victory in 1942. He scored four goals in that game but a year later scored five goals against Oviedo. In 1947, Zarra lit up the new year celebrations by once again scoring five goals, this time against Castellon. In 1950, he matched Mundo’s effort by scoring six goals against Lleida.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo – 34
This record is truly astonishing in many ways as Ronaldo averaged more than three hat-tricks per season during his time in the Spanish capital. Ronaldo’s first three-peat came against Mallorca at the end of his first season at Madrid. In 2010/11, Madrid were in a tight battle with Barcelona for the title and Ronaldo scored four goals away from home against Sevilla, a phenomenal effort.
Five months later, Ronaldo scored yet another hat-trick against Sevilla and the match ended with a similar 6-2 scoreline. He scored the first of many hat-tricks against Simeone’s Atletico Madrid in April 2012 which included a terrific free-kick against Courtois. A four-goal haul against Girona in 2018 was his last hat-trick for Real Madrid.
#1 Lionel Messi – 36
Lionel Messi sits at the top of this list after overtaking Ronaldo in December 2019 with a hat-trick against Mallorca. Messi’s first hat-trick is probably his most memorable too as it came against arch-rivals Real Madrid when he was just 19.
Lionel Messi scored another hat-trick against Real Madrid in 2014 during a 4-3 victory. He has also scored two hat-tricks against Se villa, an opponent he loves playing against. Two of his four-goal hauls have come against Eibar, with his most recent one coming in 2020.