Cristiano Ronaldo becomes second-oldest player to score a Premier League hat-trick

At 37 years and 35 days, football’s all-time top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo, on Saturday, March 12, became the second-oldest player to score a Premier League hat-trick. 

Up against Tottenham Hotspur in a crucial league encounter, the Portugal captain guided Manchester United to a 3-2 win over to keep the hopes of qualifying for the Champions League spots well and truly alive.

Interestingly enough, it was Ronaldo’s second Premier League hat-trick and first since 2008. His two league trebles are separated by 14 years & 59 days, which is the longest gap between hat-tricks for a player in the league.

The record for the oldest player to score a Premier League hat-trick belongs to Teddy Sheringham, who scored his treble against Bolton in 2003 while playing for Portsmouth aged 37 years and 146 days. 

Gordon Strachan, by contrast, is now the third-oldest player to score a hat-trick in the Premier League. The ex-Aberdeen, Manchester United and Leeds United midfielder netted his hat-trick at the age of 36 and 60 days in 1993 while playing for the latter against Blackburn. 

While Strachan was the oldest player to score a league treble at that time, he now sits third after Teddy Sheringham and Cristiano Ronaldo.

As for Ronaldo's hat-trick against Tottenham, it was historic in several ways, to say the least. To begin with, he is now football’s all-time top scorer with 807 goals for club and country. Furthermore, he has scored 14 goals against Tottenham in seven outings in his career, which is the most he has scored against any other English team.

Ronaldo's treble gave Manchester United their 400th Premier League home victory, becoming the first team to reach the milestone. An impressive 23 of those 400 wins have come against Tottenham. It is the most a team has beaten another at home in the Premier League.

Oldest players to score a Premier League hat-trick

Featured photo: AFP / Paul Ellis