Bradley Barcola finally announced himself at Liverpool on Wednesday as he hit a special hat-trick against LASK.

The Frenchman took all three of his goals exceptionally well to record the first treble of his career, as he looks to win a third Champions League title in a row.

Only two players scored hat-tricks before 2017

Liverpool’s record in the Champions League after it was repurposed from the European Cup in 1992 was initially very patchy.

That explains why up until the fairly recent year of 2017, the Reds only had two hat-trick heroes in the competition.

The first was Michael Owen, who scored three times in the 2002/03 group stage against Spartak Moscow.

A five-year wait was then observed before Yossi Benayoun hit three goals during an 8-0 drubbing of Besiktas at Anfield.

Barcola joins list of recent Liverpool heroes

Since Jurgen Klopp brought Liverpool back into the Champions League in 2017, the Reds have been much more regular – and often devastatingly good – participants in the competition.

They played some unbelievable football during their comeback in 2017/18, with a standout moment coming in the groups and a 7-0 drubbing of Spartak. Ironically, Liverpool have two hat-trick scorers against the Russians, with Philippe Coutinho equalling Owen’s feat of 15 years earlier.

Sadio Mane holds the distinction of being the only Liverpool player to score a knockout hat-trick, doing so against Porto in a memorable 5-0 last-16 win at the Dragao in 2018.

Two years passed before the late, great Diogo Jota added his name to this list with a brilliant hat-trick against Atalanta. Coming only two months after his arrival at the club, the goals – and the performance – signalled what was to come from the Portuguese legend.

One of the big surprises of this group is that it took so long for Mohamed Salah to get among them, but the Egyptian King made sure he did in typically historic fashion, hitting what remains the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history in just six minutes at 12 seconds against Rangers in 2022.

Prior to Barcola, the last Liverpool player to bag three in Europe’s premier club competition was Luis Diaz, who did so in what was arguably his best game for the club, at home to Bayer Leverkusen in 2024.

And then we arrive at the Reds’ latest hero, who looks like he could go on to join the likes of Owen, Coutinho, Mane, Jota, Salah and Diaz as being a regular goal-getter for Liverpool.