paragraph_text: In the sport of cricket, a hat - trick is an occasion where a bowler takes three wickets in consecutive deliveries. As of 31 July 2017, this feat has only been achieved 43 times in more than two thousand Test matches, the form of the sport in which national representative teams compete in matches of up to five days' duration. The first Test hat - trick was recorded on 2 January 1879, in only the third Test match to take place, by the Australian pace bowler Fred Spofforth, nicknamed ``The Demon Bowler '', who dismissed three English batsmen with consecutive deliveries at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The most recent bowler to achieve the feat was English spin bowler Moeen Ali against South Africa on 31 July 2017. At least one bowler from each of the ten nations that have played Test cricket have taken a Test hat - trick.

paragraph_text: The first hat - trick was scored by Bert Patenaude of the United States, playing against Paraguay in 1930; the most recent was by Harry Kane of England, playing against Panama on 24 June 2018.

paragraph_text: In the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final, Geoff Hurst scored a hat - trick, generally considered one of the most famous of all time. The most recent hat - trick was scored by Harry Kane in England's victory over Panama in their second match of the Russia 2018 finals.

paragraph_text: Twelve players have scored more than three goals in a match; of these, only Lionel Messi has achieved this more than once, and only Messi and Luiz Adriano have scored five. The other ten players to achieve this feat are Marco van Basten, Simone Inzaghi, Dado Pršo, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Andriy Shevchenko, Bafétimbi Gomis, Mario Gómez, Robert Lewandowski, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Cristiano Ronaldo.

paragraph_text: (hide) Rank Nat Name Season Club Goals Apps Ratio Lionel Messi 2011 -- 12 Barcelona 50 37 1.351 Cristiano Ronaldo 2014 -- 15 Real Madrid 48 35 1.371 Lionel Messi 2012 -- 13 Barcelona 46 32 1.438 Cristiano Ronaldo 2011 -- 12 Real Madrid 38 1.211 5 Lionel Messi 2014 -- 15 Barcelona 43 38 1.132 6 Cristiano Ronaldo 2010 -- 11 Real Madrid 40 34 1.176 Luis Suárez 2015 -- 16 Barcelona 35 1.143 8 Telmo Zarra 1950 -- 51 Athletic Bilbao 38 30 1.267 Hugo Sánchez 1989 -- 90 Real Madrid 35 1.086 10 Lionel Messi 2016 -- 17 Barcelona 37 34 1.088 11 Baltazar 1988 -- 89 Atlético Madrid 35 36 0.972 Cristiano Ronaldo 2015 -- 16 Real Madrid 36 0.972 13 Cristiano Ronaldo 2012 -- 13 Real Madrid 34 34 Lionel Messi 2009 -- 10 Barcelona 35 0.971 Ronaldo 1996 -- 97 Barcelona 37 0.919 Hugo Sánchez 1986 -- 87 Real Madrid 41 0.829 17 Pruden 1940 -- 41 Atlético Aviación 33 22 1.5 Telmo Zarra 1946 -- 47 Athletic Bilbao 24 1.375 Toni Polster 1989 -- 90 Sevilla 35 0.943 20 Diego Forlán 2008 -- 09 Atlético Madrid 32 33 0.97 21 Alfredo Di Stéfano 1956 -- 57 Real Madrid 31 30 1.033 Cristiano Ronaldo 2013 -- 14 Real Madrid 30 1.033 Lionel Messi 2010 -- 11 Barcelona 33 0.939 Juan Antonio Pizzi 1995 -- 96 Tenerife 41 0.756 25 Mariano Martín 1942 -- 43 Barcelona 30 23 1.304 Romário 1993 -- 94 Barcelona 33 0.909 Samuel Eto'o 2008 -- 09 Barcelona 36 0.833

paragraph_text: Total number of goals scored: 169 Average goals per match: 2.64 Total number of braces: 10 Edinson Cavani, Denis Cheryshev, Diego Costa, Eden Hazard, Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku (2), Kylian Mbappé, Ahmed Musa, John Stones Total number of hat - tricks: 2 Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo Total number of penalty kicks awarded: 29 Total number of penalty kicks scored: 22 Salman Al - Faraj, Karim Ansarifard, Artem Dzyuba, Andreas Granqvist (2), Antoine Griezmann (3), Eden Hazard, Mile Jedinak (2), Shinji Kagawa, Harry Kane (3), Luka Modrić, Victor Moses, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah, Ferjani Sassi, Gylfi Sigurðsson, Carlos Vela Total number of penalty kicks missed or saved: 7 Fahad Al - Muwallad, Christian Cueva, Lionel Messi, Luka Modrić, Cristiano Ronaldo, Bryan Ruiz, Gylfi Sigurðsson Penalty kick success rate: 7001758600000000000 ♠ 75.86% Own goals scored: 12 Edson Álvarez, Aziz Behich, Aziz Bouhaddouz, Denis Cheryshev, Thiago Cionek, Oghenekaro Etebo, Ahmed Fathy, Fernandinho, Sergei Ignashevich, Mario Mandžukić, Yassine Meriah, Yann Sommer

paragraph_text: Ronaldo scored his first and only hat - trick for Manchester United in a 6 -- 0 win against Newcastle United on 12 January 2008, bringing United up to the top of the Premier League table. A month later, on 19 March, he captained United for the first time in a home win over Bolton, and scored both goals of the match. His second goal was his 33rd of the campaign, which bettered George Best's total of 32 goals in the 1967 -- 68 season, thus setting the club's new single - season record by a midfielder. Ronaldo scored his final league goal of the season from the penalty spot in the title decider against Wigan on 11 May, as United claimed a second successive Premier League title. His 31 league goals earned him the Premier League Golden Boot, as well as the European Golden Shoe, which made him the first winger to win the latter award.

paragraph_text: Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro GOIH ComM (European Portuguese: [kɾiʃˈtjɐnu ʁoˈnaɫdu]; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Italian club Juventus and captains the Portugal national team. Often considered the best player in the world and  widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Ronaldo has a record-tying five Ballon d'Or awards, the most for a European player, and is the first player to win four European Golden Shoes. He has won 29 trophies in his career, including six league titles, five UEFA Champions League's, one UEFA European Championship, and one UEFA Nations League. A prolific goalscorer, Ronaldo holds the records for most official goals scored in the UEFA Champions League (126), the UEFA European Championship (9), as well as those for most assists in the UEFA Champions League (34) and the UEFA European Championship (6). He has scored over 700 senior career goals for club and country.

paragraph_text: In the build - up to the 2018 World Cup, Portugal hosted friendlies against Tunisia, Belgium and Algeria. Ronaldo featured in the final of the three matches in which he made his 150th international appearance. On 15 June 2018, Ronaldo became the oldest player ever to score a hat - trick in a World Cup match, helping Portugal secure a 3 -- 3 draw against Spain in their opening match at the World Cup. In doing so, he also became the first Portuguese player to score a goal in four World Cups and one of four players to do so in total. His third goal saw him curl in a 30 yard free kick with two minutes remaining for the equaliser. His hat - trick also drew him level with Ferenc Puskás as the highest European goalscorer of all - time, with 84 international goals. In Portugal's second game on 20 June, Ronaldo scored the only goal in a 1 -- 0 victory against Morocco, breaking Puskás' record. In the final group match against Iran on 25 June, Ronaldo missed a penalty in an eventual 1 -- 1 draw which saw Portugal progress to the second round as group runners - up behind Spain. On 30 June, Portugal were eliminated following a 2 -- 1 defeat to Uruguay in the last 16.

paragraph_text: Rank Player Hat - tricks Cristiano Ronaldo 7 Lionel Messi Mario Gómez Filippo Inzaghi Luiz Adriano 6 Adriano Sergio Agüero Karim Benzema Andy Cole Didier Drogba Samuel Eto'o Robert Lewandowski Roy Makaay Michael Owen Marco Simone Andriy Shevchenko Roberto Soldado Ruud van Nistelrooy

paragraph_text: John Gould Veitch (19 July 1869 – 3 October 1914) was an English amateur footballer, who played for the Corinthian club in the 1890s. He made one appearance for England playing at inside left in 1894, in which he scored a hat trick.

paragraph_text: A player has taken two hat - tricks in the same Test match only once. Playing for Australia against South Africa in the first match of the 1912 Triangular Tournament at Old Trafford, Manchester, England, leg spinner Jimmy Matthews took a hat - trick in South Africa's first and second innings, both taken on 28 May 1912. He completed both hat - tricks by dismissing South Africa's Tommy Ward. Only three other cricketers have taken more than one Test hat - trick: Australian off spinner Hugh Trumble (two years apart, between the same teams at the same ground), Pakistani fast bowler Wasim Akram (just over a week apart, in consecutive matches between the same teams) and English fast bowler Stuart Broad. Three players have taken a hat - trick on their Test debut: English medium pace bowler Maurice Allom in 1930, New Zealand off - spinner Peter Petherick in 1976, and Australian pace bowler Damien Fleming in 1994. Geoff Griffin took the fewest total Test wickets of any player who recorded a hat - trick, taking only eight wickets in his entire Test career. During the match in which he took his hat - trick, Griffin was repeatedly called for throwing by the umpires and never bowled again in a Test match. Australian Peter Siddle is the only bowler to take a hat - trick on his birthday, and Bangladeshi off spinner Sohag Gazi is the only player to score a century and take a hat - trick in the same Test match.

paragraph_text: Only one man has scored a hat - trick in a World Cup Final. Geoff Hurst scored three for England against West Germany in the 1966 Final. This is also the longest hat - trick to be completed -- most time between the first and third goals. His first goal came at 10 ', while the second goals were in extra time at 98' and 120 '.

paragraph_text: Wayne Gretzky holds the NHL record for the most hat tricks in a career with 50. Harry Hyland scored the league's first hat trick, in the league's very first game on 19 December 1917, in which Hyland's Montreal Wanderers defeated the Toronto Arenas 10 -- 9.

paragraph_text: The first Test triple century was achieved by Andy Sandham of England against the West Indies in 1930 in the first Test series hosted in the West Indies. The frequency of a batsman scoring a Test triple century is slightly less than that of a bowler taking a Test hat - trick (30 triple centuries versus 43 hat - tricks as of July 2017). The quickest Test triple - century was scored in 4 hours 48 minutes, by Wally Hammond for England against New Zealand at Auckland in 1932 -- 33. The fastest Test triple - century by number of balls faced, where that figure is recorded, is Virender Sehwag's 278 - ball triple century for India against South Africa in the first Test of the Future Cup in Chennai in 2008.

paragraph_text: On 1 September 2001 Germany met England during the qualifying stages of the 2002 World Cup, at the Olympiastadion in Munich. England won the game 5 -- 1, abetted by a hat - trick from striker Michael Owen.

paragraph_text: Rank Player Season Goals Cristiano Ronaldo 2013 -- 14 17 Cristiano Ronaldo 2015 -- 16 16 Cristiano Ronaldo 2017 -- 18 15 José Altafini 1962 -- 63 14 Lionel Messi 2011 -- 12 6 Ferenc Puskás 1959 -- 60 12 Gerd Müller 1972 -- 73 Ruud van Nistelrooy 2002 -- 03 Lionel Messi 2010 -- 11 Mario Gómez 2011 -- 12 Cristiano Ronaldo 2012 -- 13 Cristiano Ronaldo 2016 -- 17

paragraph_text: Below is the list of players that have scored a hat - trick in a La Liga match since the league's creation, in 1929. Since its creation, more than 100 players have scored at least a hat - trick. Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 32 La Liga hat - tricks, making him the player with the most hat - tricks in La Liga history. He is followed by Lionel Messi, with 28.

paragraph_text: During the qualification for the 2014 World Cup, Ronaldo scored a total of eight goals. A qualifying match on 17 October 2012, a 1 -- 1 draw against Northern Ireland, earned him his 100th cap. His first international hat - trick also came against Northern Ireland, when he found the net three times in a 15 - minute spell of a 4 -- 2 qualifying victory on 6 September 2013. After Portugal failed to qualify during the regular campaign, Ronaldo scored all four of the team's goals in the play - offs against Sweden, which ensured their place at the tournament. His hat - trick in the second leg took his international tally to 47 goals, equaling Pauleta's record. Ronaldo subsequently scored twice in a 5 -- 1 friendly win over Cameroon on 5 March 2014 to become his country's all - time top scorer.

paragraph_text: Ronaldo scored five goals, including a hat - trick against Armenia, in the qualification for Euro 2016. With the only goal in another victory over Armenia on 14 November 2014, he reached 23 goals in the European Championship, including qualifying matches, to become the competition's all - time leading goalscorer. At the start of the tournament, however, Ronaldo failed to convert his chances in Portugal's draws against Iceland and Austria, despite taking a total of 20 shots on goal. In the latter match, he overtook Luís Figo as his nation's most capped player with his 128th international appearance, which ended scoreless after he missed a penalty in the second half. With two goals and an assist in the last match of the group stage, a 3 -- 3 draw against Hungary, Ronaldo became the first player to score in four European Championships, having made a record 17 appearances in the tournament. Though placed third in their group behind Hungary and Iceland, his team qualified for the knockout round as a result of the competition's newly expanded format.

Question: Who is the player with the most hat tricks between Messi and Ronaldo?
Answer: a Portuguese professional footballer