Scoring five goals in a single game is already an exceptional feat in top-level soccer. Doing it in the Champions League, against Europe’s elite, is an even rarer achievement. Since the competition was created, only three players have managed to accomplish this feat: Lionel Messi, Luiz Adriano, and Erling Haaland. Three strikers, three different eras, and three offensive masterclasses that have left their mark on Champions League history.
Messi against Leverkusen in Ro16
On March 7, 2012, Lionel Messi became the first player to score five goals in a single Champions League match. Against Bayer Leverkusen at Camp Nou, the Argentine played a major role in FC Barcelona’s 7-1 demolition, scoring five times in 90 minutes and becoming the first player in the competition’s history to reach that total in a single game. At just 24 years old, Messi produced a performance that seemed almost unreal.
The performance was even more impressive because it came during a period when Messi was already dominating world soccer. After scoring four goals against Arsenal in 2010, he reached another level against Leverkusen. His five-goal haul also brought him to 49 Champions League goals at just 24 years old, while he already had 12 goals in the 2011-12 edition after seven games.
The Argentine genius therefore did not simply break a record: he did it in the image of his soccer, combining acceleration, dribbling, movement, and finishing. For more than two years, nobody managed to reproduce his achievement. Until a Brazilian striker came along to join him.
Luiz Adriano against Bate Borisov
On October 21, 2014, Luiz Adriano joined Lionel Messi in an extremely exclusive club. With Shakhtar Donetsk, the Brazilian destroyed BATE Borisov in a 7-0 victory and also scored five goals. He thus became the second player in Champions League history to score five times in the same match.
His achievement nevertheless had a particular feature that distinguished it from Messi’s. Luiz Adriano scored four goals in just 16 minutes, between the 28th and 44th minutes. He became the scorer of the fastest four-goal haul in competition history and the first player to score four goals in the first half of a Champions League match. He then added a fifth goal after halftime to equal the record set two years earlier by Messi.
That night against the Belarusian club therefore represented one of the greatest individual achievements ever produced in the Champions League. Luiz Adriano turned a match largely dominated by Shakhtar into a genuine personal showcase. For nearly nine years, Messi and he would remain the only two players capable of scoring five goals in a single Champions League match.
Erling Haaland against Leipzig in 2023
It was not until March 2023 that a third player finally joined this exclusive club. In the second leg of the round of 16 against RB Leipzig, Erling Haaland delivered an exceptional performance with Manchester City. After a 1-1 draw in the first leg, the Citizens crushed the Germans 7-0 at the Etihad Stadium, with five goals from the Norwegian.
Haaland scored his first goal from the penalty spot in the 22nd minute before doubling the lead two minutes later. He then scored just before halftime before adding two more goals in the second half. His five-goal haul was therefore completed in just 36 minutes, allowing him to join Messi and Luiz Adriano in competition history.
But the evening took on an additional dimension for the Norwegian. At just 22 years old, he became the third player to score five goals in a Champions League match and continued to set extraordinary numbers in a competition where he was already displaying exceptional efficiency. After his fifth goal, Manchester City led 6-0 before Kevin De Bruyne completed the demolition in stoppage time.
Messi, Luiz Adriano, and Haaland are therefore the only three players to have scored five goals in a Champions League match. Three performances produced in different contexts, but all sharing one common characteristic: total offensive dominance. From Messi against Leverkusen in 2012 to Haaland against Leipzig in 2023, through Luiz Adriano’s festival against BATE Borisov, these nights now belong to the heritage of Europe’s most prestigious competition.