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Hat-tricks are special. A footballer who scores three goals in a game gets to keep the match ball – and that player usually goes home happy.
But not always. While having a player who has hit three goals in a match is usually synomymous with winning the game, sometimes it is only enough for a draw and occasionally, not even that.
Over the years, there have been a few famous examples of footballers who have scored hat-tricks, but ended up being beaten.
From the World Cup to the Champions League and a player who suffered the same fate twice in the Premier League, here is a look at some of the stars who scored three in a match, only to finish on the losing side…
16. Álvaro Morata
Álvaro Morata scored all three Atlético Madrid goals on the Rojiblancos’ visit to Girona in January 2024 – but the Spain striker’s hat-trick ultimately counted for nothing.
Morata levelled at 1-1 and later hauled Diego Simeone’s side back into the game with two second-half strikes to make it 3-3 after Atleti had gone in two down at the break. But Iván Martín netted in added time to undo all this hard work and seal a 4-3 win for Girona at Montilivi.
15. İrfan Kahveci
İstanbul Başakşehir won the Turkish Süper Lig in 2019/20, but little went right for the champions the following season.
The Grey Owls finished 12th in a disastrous defence of their title and lost five of their six Champions League group games. A İrfan Kahveci hat-trick in their penultimate fixture looked to have sealed a 3-3 draw at home to RB Leipzig, but Alexander Sørloth struck in added time to hand the German side a 4-3 win in Istanbul.
14. Mauro Icardi
Inter finished seventh in Serie A in 2016/17 and a run of six defeats in seven matches towards the end of the season ultimately ended the Milan side’s hopes of qualifying for Europe.
One of those was a 5-4 loss at Fiorentina in April. Inter had led 2-1 at half-time through Ivan Perišić and Mauro Icardi, but later found themselves 5-2 down. Icardi reduced the deficit with two late efforts to complete his hat-trick, but it wasn’t enough to avoid a damaging defeat for the Nerazzurri.
13. Dwight Yorke
Dwight Yorke’s only Premier League hat-trick for Aston Villa was not enough to secure any points as Brian Little’s side went down 4-3 away to Newcastle United.
Yorke gave the visitors an early lead at St. James’ Park, but Les Ferdinand levelled a minute later and Newcastle were 3-1 up at the break. Villa also had Mark Draper sent off late in the first half and were unable to get back into the game despite two more second-half strikes from Yorke as Steve Howey added a fourth goal for Newcastle.
12. Josef Hügi
Switzerland went 3-0 up against Austria in the quarter-finals of the 1954 World Cup, but the tournament hosts found themselves 5-3 down at half-time and eventually lost 5-3 in Lausanne.
Jose Hügi scored the Swiss’ second and third goals inside 20 minutes in a strong start for the locals. But when he completed his hat-trick after an hour, Switzerland still trailed 6-5 and conceded another with just under 15 minutes left to play. Austria’s Theodor Wagner also scored a hat-trick.
11. Philippe Coutinho
Philippe Coutinho’s move from Liverpool to Barcelona did not work out and even what was probably the Brazilian’s best game for the Catalan club will have been a sour memory for the fans.
Barça were on course for an unbeaten season in La Liga, but were beaten 5-4 by Levante in their penultimate fixture, with Coutinho’s hat-trick ultimately counting for little as an opportunity to make history was missed. And somewhat needlessly, too, with Lionel Messi rested ahead of an ill-timed friendly against South African side Mamelodi Sundowns three days later.
10. Christopher Nkunku
Christopher Nkunku scored a hat-trick for RB Leipzig against Manchester City in the Champions League group stages in September 2021.
But City, beaten in the final the previous season, opened their Champions League campaign with a bang by scoring twice as many as the French forward in a 6-3 win at the Etihad.
9. Igor Belanov
Igor Belanov had a memorable year in 1986, helping Dynamo Kyiv to a Soviet League title and a European Cup Winners’ Cup crown and later claiming the Ballon d’Or.
Belanov also impressed for the Soviet Union at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, but his hat-trick against Belgium in the round of 16 could not prevent a 4-3 extra-time defeat after a 2-2 draw in 90 minutes.
8. Matthew Le Tissier
Matthew Le Tissier scored over 200 goals for Southampton in a long career with the Saints and those included four Premier League hat-tricks.
As of 2024, Le Tissier is one of just four players to score a hat-trick in the competition and end up on the losing side and the only one to lose two games after netting a treble – a 4-3 loss at Olham in May 1993 and a 4-3 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest in August 1995.
7. Milinko Pantić
Milinko Pantić scored a first-half hat-trick to put Atlético Madrid 3-0 up against Barcelona and 5-2 ahead on aggregate in the teams’ Copa del Rey quarter-final second leg at the Vicente Calderón.
And after Ronaldo reduced the deficit with two goals early in the second half, Pantić scored a fourth. But the Serbian midfielder somehow ended up on the losing side as Luís Figo, Ronaldo again and Pizzi all struck to complete an unbelievable comeback for Barça as the Blaugrana won 5-4 on the night and 7-6 on aggregate.
6. Elye Wahi
Elye Wahi scored four goals for Montpellier in a Ligue 1 clash away to Lyon in May 2023, but the French forward still ended up on the losing side.
After Alexandre Lacazette had given Lyon the lead, Wahi hit four goals without replay to give Montpellier a commanding 4-1 advantage at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais. But the home side came storming back in the final half an hour as Lacazette also scored four – including a winner from the penalty spot in the 10th minute of added time – to seal a dramatic late win for OL.
5. Ernst Wilimowski
Imagine scoring four goals against Brazil at a World Cup and still losing the match. That is what happened to Poland’s 21-year-old forward Ernst Wilimowski in a round of 16 clash in Paris in 1938.
Wilimowski hit a hat-trick as Poland came from 3-1 down to force a 4-4 draw and the striker added another in extra time. But Brazil’s Leônidas also hit a hat-trick and the South Americans ultimately prevailed 6-5 in a thrilling tie.
4. Gareth Bale
Playing in the Champions League for the first time, Tottenham were 4-0 down to defending champions Inter at half-time in a group stage clash in Milan and looked to be on course for a humiliating defeat.
But Gareth Bale had other ideas. The Welsh winger tormented the Italian giants with three superb strikes cutting inside from the left to earn a much more creditable 4-3 defeat for Spurs. It was the performance which announced his arrival as a world-class talent and Tottenham gained confidence from their comeback, going on to beat Inter at White Hart Lane and progress to the quarter-finals of the competition.
3. Ronaldo
Ronaldo’s brilliant hat-trick for Real Madrid against Manchester United in the Champions League in April 2003 was not enough to win the game for Los Blancos – but it did send the Spanish side through to the semi-finals.
Madrid won the tie 6-5 on aggregate following a 4-3 defeat in the second leg in Manchester, but went on to lose to Juventus in the last four and Ronaldo never did get his hands on European football’s most prestigious prize. He did earn an ovation from the home fans, though, after an outstanding individual display.
2. Ferenc Puskás
Ferenc Puskás won three European Cups as a Real Madrid player and famously hit four goals as Los Blancos thrashed Eintracht Frankfurt in Glasgow in the 1960 final.
Two years later, Puskás hit another European Cup final hat-trick as Madrid led Benfica 2-0 and later 3-2, but a Mário Coluna effort and two goals from Eusébio in the second half saw the Portuguese side seal a 5-3 win in Amsterdam. More than 60 years on, Puskás remains the only player to have hit two hat-tricks in major European finals.
1. Kylian Mbappé
France did not lose to Argentina over 90 or 120 minutes in the 2022 World Cup final, but Les Bleus were beaten on penalties in Qatar.
Kylian Mbappé became only the second player ever to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, after England’s Geoff Hurst in 1966, but the former Paris Saint-Germain ended up with a runners-up medal this time around.
