On the biggest stage of them all, the most electric players shine bright.
Mohamed Salah and Robert Lewandowski are two of the top strikers in the European game today, and both can claim a piece of UEFA Champions League history.
Meanwhile, the legendary Kylian Mbappe came close to both records as well, putting himself near the top of both lists in one fell swoop.
The Sporting News brings you an overview of the quickest goals in Champions League history, both from the start of a match and for time between goals.
MORE: Champions League goalscoring records for career and single season
Fastest hat trick in Champions League history
Mohamed Salah owns the quickest hat-trick in Champions League history by time between the first and final goal.
Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe came close with his treble against Olympiacos in November of 2025. With Los Blancos down a goal, Mbappe struck three times in blisteringly quick succession, suddenly putting the La Liga giants well in front.
Statistics as of November 26, 2025.
| Rank | Player | Date | Match | Time | 1st goal | 3rd goal |
| 1st | Mohamed Salah | Oct. 12, 2022 | Liverpool 7-1 Rangers | 6 mins, 12 sec | 75′ | 81′ |
| 2nd | Kylian Mbappe | Nov. 26, 2025 | Olympiacos 1-3 Real Madrid | 6 mins, 42 sec | 22′ | 29′ |
| 3rd | Bafetimbi Gomis | Dec. 7, 2011 | Dinamo Zagreb 1-7 Lyon* | 8 mins, 45 sec | 45′ | 52′ |
| 4th | Mike Newell | Dec. 6, 1995 | Blackburn 4-1 Rosenborg | 9 mins, 17 sec | 31′ | 40′ |
| 5th | Robert Lewandowski | Mar. 8, 2022 | Bayern Munich 7-1 RB Salzburg | 10 min, 22 sec | 12′ | 23′ |
* Gomis scored four goals in this match. The time counts for the first three, when he hit his hat-trick. He scoured his fourth goal in the 70th minute.
Salah hat trick becomes fastest in Champions League history
Mohamed Salah secured his place in the record books with the fastest hat trick from the first goal to the third goal, as Liverpool provided a masterclass at Ibrox against Rangers.
6 – Mo Salah has scored a hat-trick with just six minutes and 12 seconds between his first and third goals, the quickest ever in UEFA Champions League history. Lightning. pic.twitter.com/cuZ2YquoiF
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 12, 2022
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His treble, which came with just six minutes and 12 seconds between the first and third goal, is the quickest in the competition’s history, topping Bafetimbi Gomis, who scored his in eight minutes for Lyon against Dinamo Zagreb in 2011.
MORE: Full recap as Liverpool thrashes Rangers at Ibrox in Champions League behind Salah trio
Entering the match off the bench in the 68th minute, replacing an earlier goalscorer in Darwin Nunez, Salah exploded to life within eight minutes of entering the pitch. He bagged his first in the 76th minute. The second goal slid into the back of the net on 80 minutes, and he scored the third just a minute later in the 81st.
Interestingly, all three goals were assisted by Diogo Jota, who himself came off the bench in the 73rd minute as Liverpool completed a second-half masterclass in the 7-1 win.
3 – Diogo Jota assisted all three of Mo Salah’s goals for Liverpool tonight, the first time a player assisted a teammate’s hat-trick in the UEFA Champions League since March 2012, when Franck Ribéry assisted three Mario Gomez strikes for Bayern against Basel. Wavelength. pic.twitter.com/Ak0vMlPHVU
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 12, 2022
His hat-trick is one of just six in the history of the competition by a substitute, putting him alongside Uwe Rosler, Joseba Llorente, Walter Pandiani, Kylian Mbappe, and Marcus Rashford.
Quickest hat trick from start of match in Champions League history
With Bayern Munich in 2021/22, Lewandowski scored three goals in the first 23 minutes of a knockout-stage match against RB Salzburg, marking the fastest hat trick scored by any player in the competition from the start of the game.
He broke the previous record held by Marco Simone of AC Milan, who needed until the 24th minute to secure his hat trick in a 1996 match against Norwegian side Rosenborg.
Mbappe’s treble against Olympiacos in the 2025/26 league phase ranked him third in this category, as well as placing second in the previous list.
Statistics as of November 26, 2025.
| Rank | Player | Date | Match | Time of 3rd goal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Robert Lewandowski | Mar. 8, 2022 | Bayern Munich 7-1 RB Salzburg | 23rd min |
| 2. | Marco Simone | Sept. 24, 1996 | Rosenborg 1-4 AC Milan | 24th min |
| 3. | Kylian Mbappe | Nov. 26, 2025 | Olympiacos 1-3 Real Madrid | 29th min |
| 4. | Claudio Pizarro | Nov. 7, 2012 | Bayern Munich 6-1 Lille | 33rd min |
| = | Rui Pedro | Nov. 20, 2012 | CFR Cluj 3-1 Braga | 33rd min |
Lewandowski fastest hat trick in Champions League
While Salah’s record is the quickest any player has netted three times in a single spell, Lewandowski is the player who holds the record for the fastest hat trick from the start of a match — completing the feat with 23 minutes on the clock for Bayern Munich in March, 2022.
With Bayern barely securing a 1-1 draw against RB Salzburg in the first leg of their 2021/22 Champions League Round of 16 matchup in Austria, the German giants needed a big home performance to secure passage into the quarterfinals of the competition.
The Polish superstar provided the goods at Allianz Arena.
23 – Robert Lewandowski has completed a hat-trick within 23 minutes against FC RB Salzburg tonight; the earliest treble ever scored by a player in UEFA Champions League history from the start of a match, overtaking Marco Simone for Milan v Rosenborg in 1996 (24 mins). Snappy. pic.twitter.com/aVNNmGdgVV
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 8, 2022
Lewandowski opened the scoring in the 12th minute after earning a penalty and delivering from the spot. He was felled by Maximilian Wober while attempting to shoot — a clear and easy penalty decision for the referee.
The ensuing spot-kick from Lewandowski sent goalkeeper Philipp Kohn the wrong way with an emphatic finish to earn his 40th goal for Bayern this season across all competitions.
The second goal was deja-vu, as Wober again fouled Lewandowski for a second penalty, and the Polish striker delivered again.
To complete his hat trick, Lewandowski got one from open play, a weird and ugly goal from a horrific bit of defending by the Austrian opponents, who were done in by their own high line. Lewandowski clipped the ball over a challenge by right back Rasmus Kristensen, and was eventually fed through by teammate Thomas Muller to leave the Polish international through on net. He got by Kohn’s last-ditch challenge on the deflection, and after the ball came off the post he was there to bungle it home off his thigh.
The hat trick was his fifth in the Champions League across a glittering career. The goals came just 12 minutes apart, equaling the feat he achieved against Red Star Belgrade in 2019, with both hat tricks at the time sitting as the joint-fifth quickest in Champions League history on time between the first and third goals.
Robert Lewandowski’s first-half vs RB Salzburg:
100% duels won (2/2)
75% pass accuracy
24 total touches
6 shots (4 on target)
3 goalsSome first-half…. 🇵🇱 #UCL pic.twitter.com/lPSqa3T4Rw
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) March 8, 2022
At the time, the three tallies also made Lewandowski the top scorer in that year’s competition with 12 goals across eight matches, passing Sebastien Haller of Ajax (11 goals). When it was all said and done, he would finish two back of Real Madrid star Karim Benzema who finished as the 2022/23 top goal scorer with 13.
