It is often said that the top players are the ones who can produce their best when it matters most.
For a forward, that might mean scoring a winning goal in a big game. Perhaps even two or three.
If that player can net a hat-trick, he will usually go home happy – and almost always on the winning side.
Here, a look at some players from the men's game who memorably scored hat-tricks in major finals...
16. James Rodríguez
Porto's 2010/11 season was virtually perfect as André Villas Boas' side won the Primeira Liga, the Taça de Portugal, the SuperTaça and the Europa League in an unprecedented campaign.
The Dragons won the Portuguese title without losing a match and after beating Braga in the Europa League final, rounded off a historic season with a 6-2 win over Vitória de Guimarães in the final of the Portuguese Cup. James Rodríguez hit a hat-trick, with Silvestre Varela, Rolando and Hulk also on target in a one-sided contest at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon.
15. Édison Méndez
Former Ecuador winger Édison Méndez hit a first-half hat-trick as LDU Quito thrashed Fluminense 5-1 in the first leg of the teams' Copa Sudamericana final in November 2009.
Fluminense won the second match 3-0, but LDU Quito held on to win the trophy with a 5-4 aggregate victory. Curiously, the only hat-trick in a Copa Libertadores final also came in a meeting between these two teams. More on that later...
14. Giuseppe Giannini
Giuseppe Giannini won the Coppa Italia three times with Roma and the elegant midfielder narrowly missed out on a fourth title in 1993.
Roma went down 3-0 to Torino in the first leg, but the Giallorossi came storming back in the second match as Giannini hit a hat-trick in a 5-2 win at the Stadio Olimpico, ultimately losing out on away goals.
13. Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo scored an unbelievable 44 hat-tricks in his nine seasons at Real Madrid – but only one of those came in a final.
The Portuguese superstar netted twice in extra time to seal a 4-2 win for Los Blancos against Kashima Antlers in the FIFA Club World Cup final in December 2016 after the match had ended 2-2. Earlier, Karim Benzema had opened the scoring, before a Gaku Shibasaki double gave the Japanese side a shock lead and Ronaldo levelled from the penalty spot.
12. Jean-Pierre Papin
Jean-Pierre Papin scored a hat-trick as Marseille beat Monaco 4-3 in a thrilling Coupe de France final at the Parc des Princes in May 1989.
The former France forward scored twice to put OM 2-0 up in the first half and made it 3-1 just after the break. Klaus Allofs was also on target as Marseille edged a seven-goal game against a Monaco side coached by Arsène Wenger and featuring George Weah, Glenn Hoddle and a young Emmanuel Petit.
11. Robert Lewandowski
When Robert Lewandowski signed for Bayern Munich from Borussia Dortmund in 2014, the Bavarian club knew exactly the kind of player they were getting.
The Pole was a prolific scorer at BVB, scoring over 100 goals in his four seasons in Dortmund, including a hat-trick against Bayern in a 5-2 win in the DFB-Pokal final in May 2012.
10. Thiago Neves
Thiago Neves is the only player ever to have scored a hat-trick in a Copa Libertadores final – but the attacking midfielder ended up on the losing side.
Neves scored in a 4-2 defeat away to Ecuador's LDU Quito and hit a hat-trick as the Rio side won the second match 3-1. With the tie even at 5-5 and away goals not taken into account, the final went to penalties. Unfortunately for Neves, he was unable to convert his kick in a 3-1 shootout loss.
9. Telmo Zarra
Telmo Zarra scored 335 goals for Athletic Club in the 1940s and 1950s and many of the legendary Basque striker's records have only been broken relatively recently by Lionel Messi at Barcelona.
In 1950, Zarra scored all four goals for Athletic as the Bilbao side beat Real Valladolid in the final of the Copa del Rey (Copa del Generalísimo at the time), with three of those coming in extra time after a 1-1 draw over 90 minutes. He remains the competition's all-time top scorer and is the only man to have netted four in a final.
8. Stan Mortenson
The 1953 FA Cup final is often referred to as "the Stanley Matthews final" after the former England winger's heroics saw Blackpool come back from 3-1 down against Bolton Wanderers to win the match 4-3.
But another Stan starred in Blackpool's comeback win: Mortenson. The former England striker scored three to become the third player to net a hat-trick in an FA Cup final and the first to do so at Wembley. No player has managed it since.
7. Ademola Lookman
Not particularly prolific early in his career, Ademola Lookman took his game to new levels in Italy with Atalanta.
And the England-born Nigeria winger was the hero as the Serie A side ended Bayer Leverkusen's unbeaten run in impressive style, scoring three superb goals in the Europa League final to hand the Italians a 3-0 win. It was his first career hat-trick and the first by any player in a European final since 1975.
6. Jupp Heynckes
Jupp Heynckes finished as top scorer with 27 goals as Borussia Mönchengladbach won the Bundesliga in 1974/75.
And the former West Germany great was the hero in the UEFA Cup final as Gladbach claimed a first-ever European trophy. Heynckes missed the first leg at home as the two teams drew 0-0, but hit a hat-trick in the away match in an emphatic 5-1 win for the Bundesliga side.
5. Pierino Prati
AC Milan beat an Ajax side featuring a young Johan Cruyff 4-1 in the 1969 European Cup final to win the trophy for a second time.
Gianni Rivera was Milan's star at the time, but it was a hat-trick from striker Pierino Prati which was the inspiration behind a comprehensive win for the Rossoneri at the Santiago Bernabéu. And no man has done it since.
4. Alfredo Di Stéfano
After scoring Real Madrid's first and second goals in the 1960 European Cup final against EIntracht Frankfurt in Glasgow, Alfredo Di Stéfano completed his hat-trick with 73 minutes on the clock.
His third was Madrid's seventh in an unbelievable 7-3 win, but team-mate Ferenc Puskás went one better by scoring four at Hampden Park.
3. Ferenc Puskás
Ferenc Puskás is one of three men to have scored a hat-trick in a European Cup final – and the only one to have done it twice.
The Hungarian great scored four for Los Blancos in their famous 7-3 demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1960 final and also hit three as the Spanish side lost 5-3 to Benfica in the 1962 showpiece.
2. Kylian Mbappé
After starring for France as a teenager with two goals in Les Bleus' 4-2 World Cup final win over Croatia in 2018, Kylian Mbappé scored three in the 2022 showpiece against Argentina – but ended up on the losing side in Qatar.
Mbappé netted twice late in the game and again in extra time as the match went to penalties. Two of his goals were spot-kicks and he beat Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez again in the shootout, but Les Bleus were beaten 4-2 on penalties.
1. Geoff Hurst
For over 56 years, Geoff Hurst was the only man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.
Hurst hit three for England in the 1966 final at Wembley, although his second was highly controversial as it was awarded even though the ball appeared not to have crossed the line. Hurst remains the only man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final and finish on the winning side.
