Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro will without a doubt go down as one of, if not thee, greatest players to ever play the game. Countless trophies with club and country, along with a litany of personal accolades, have seen the legendary no.7 pitted against another modern great, Lionel Messi. Who is better Messi or Ronaldo is a debate for the ages. However this article can help all Ronaldo faithfuls with some arsenal for their argument. You see, Ronaldo has scored more hatricks then any other player in the 21st century. While Lewadownski has 24, Luis Suarez on 29 and Messi netting 54, Cristiano Ronaldo is sitting on the staggering number of 57……..and we are going to look at every single one of them.
1 12/01/2008 Man Utd v Newcastle Premier League
Ronaldo’s first ever career hat-trick came at Old Trafford against Newcastle. United went onto win the game 6-0 with goals from Carlos Tevez and Rio Ferdinand helping The Red Devils to go top of the table. This was to be Ronaldo’s first and only hat-trick in the Red of Manchester.
2 05/05/2010 Real Madrid v Mallorca La Liga
Suprinsingly it took a while for his very first treble in the White of Madrid. It was one of Manuel Pellegrini’s last game in charge of Los Blancos in a season where they recorded 96 points. At the time this was the highest point finish Real ever had, however it was not enough to clinch the title, as they only came runners-up to Barcelona.
3 23/10/2010 Real Madrid v Racing Santander La Liga
Four goals for Ronaldo this time, with Mesut Ozil and Gonzalo Higuain chipping in also. The 6-1 win allowed the Jose Mourinho lead Madrid to go back to the top of La Liga in October.
4 22/11/2010 Real Madrid v Athletic Club La Liga
Ronaldo was really hitting his stride. Messi moved ahead of Ronaldo at the top of the La Liga rankings , however another hat-trick for the Portuguese brought him to 15 goals in the league. Madrid ended up 5-1 winners.
5 22/12/2010 Real Madrid v Levante Copa del Rey
This 8-0 thrashing allowed both Ronaldo and Karim Benzema to register three goals each. This game seen Ronaldo reach 25 goals in 24 games. outstanding. Mesut Ozil and Pedro Leon also scored in this first leg tie. Levante actually won the second leg 2-0, so yeah, well done I guess.
6 09/01/2011 Real Madrid v Villarreal La Liga
Another month, another year, another win and another Hat-trick. Madrid won this La Liga game 4-2 with the other goal coming from the Brazilian galactico, Kaka.
7 03/03/2011 Real Madrid v Malaga La Liga
Pellegrini returned to face his former side, and ended up witness to his side being demolished by a mighty Madrid side. Three goals from Ronaldo along with two from Karim Benzema and one each for Angel Di Maria and Marcelo helped secur the win against their former manager.
8 07/05/2011 Real Madrid v Sevilla La Liga
Ronaldo put four in the back of the net, to keep Madrid’s slim title chances alive. Real Madrid went out of the Champions League to fierce rivals Barcelona the very same week but bounced back in style.
9 12/05/2011 Real Madrid v Getafe La Liga
For the second time in five days Ronaldo scored a hat-trick as they crushed Getafe 4-0. Sergio Ramos scored the fourth as Madrid tried to make ground on second placed rivals Atletico Madrid.
10 28/08/2011 Real Madrid Real Zaragoza La Liga
Picking up where he left off the previous season, CR7 helped Madrid to a 6-0 victory by scoring half the goals. Marcelo, Xabi Alonso, Kaká also got on the scoresheet.
