Cristiano Ronaldo extended hat-trick scoring streak over against Lionel Messi and shattered multiple records with a brilliant second-half hat-trick against Cagliari in Serie A 2019-20. Ronaldo’s feat, his first hat-trick for Juventus and first in Serie A, helped the Italian champions thrash Cagliari 4-0 and maintain the pressure on league leaders on Inter Milan. Ronaldo’s hat-trick also took his league scoring tally to 13 goals for the season and made it 8 goals in last 5 league games for Bianoccori. Ronaldo’s three against Cagliari was also his 56th career hat-trick extending his lead to 3 against Messi, who has 53 career-hat-tricks. Cristiano Ronaldo Scores First Serie A Hat-trick As Juventus Maul Cagliari 4-0.

The Portuguese superstar, who turns 35 next month, was back in his clinical best and helped Juventus take all three points against Cagliari with a sublime second-half hat-trick after a barren first-half between both these teams. Gonzalo Higuain netted the other goal in the 4-0 rout. Watch Video Highlights of Cristiano Ronaldo's Hat-trick.

Ronaldo, courtesy his hat-trick, also became only the second player after Alexis Sanchez to net at least one hat-trick in three different leagues in Europe. The Juventus talisman, with his three against Rolando Maran’s side, has now scored a hat-trick in the Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain) and Serie A (Italy). Sanchez, who is on loan at Inter from Manchester United, is the only other player to have accomplished this feat in the mentioned leagues.

The Serie A thus also became the 10th different competition that Ronaldo has scored a hat-trick as part of his 56 career hat-tricks. Of the 56 hat-tricks, 34 have come in La Liga, 8 in the Champions League, 4 in World Cup qualifiers, 3 in Euro qualifiers, 2 in Copa del Rey and 1 each in the Premier League, World Cup, Nations League, Club World Cup and the Serie A.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 07, 2020 11:32 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).