A hat-trick is the goal pattern that all goalscorers dream of. Of course, it is also a very difficult mode, and sometimes it requires a lot of luck. In fact, in the black and white period, hat tricks were basically flying all over the sky, after all, the defensive system was imperfect at that time, and it was relatively easy to score goals. But since the beginning of the new century, hat-tricks have been relatively scarce, especially in tournaments like the World Cup and the European Cup, who can play a hat-trick will definitely be remembered for a long time.
If you want to say that the most impressive hat-trick magicians in the last 30 years, I personally think there are two. One is Barty and the other is Mbappe. Barty is a bull, he scored two hat-tricks at the World Cup; Needless to say, Mbappe scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final, which only Hirst had done before.
However, this is only from a personal point of view. What if from a team's point of view? Which team has contributed the most hat-tricks in the tournament since the turn of the millennium?
Portugal.
In fact, compared with traditional powerhouses such as France, Germany, and Italy, Portugal is not even an old powerhouse, and its background is also very different. But since the beginning of the new century, Portugal has indeed produced several hat-trick masters, such as Conceição in Euro 2000, Pauleta in the 2002 World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2018 World Cup, and Gonzalo Ramos in the 2022 World Cup. In today's football context, it's not easy to score goals in a big game, let alone a hat-trick? And the point is that Portugal has always been known for lacking a center forward, but it is these players who are not a top center forward (excluding Cristiano Ronaldo) who have scored one hat-trick after another.
But today we're talking about much more than that. A hat-trick can actually expand the edge of the connotation infinitely. A hat-trick in the narrow sense is just three goals or more in a game; But a hat-trick in the broad sense can even have nothing to do with scoring. For example, Spain won three consecutive major championships from '08 to '12, is that a hat-trick? Moreover, Messi won the Ballon d'Or 4 times in a row from 09 to 12, is it also a hat trick?
Well, today, we offer a new area. This starts with the quarter-finals of the European Championship between Portugal and Slovenia.
When Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty in extra time, what did everyone think? Have you started to make up for the picture of Ronaldo announcing his retirement from the national team after the game? In fact, at that node, let alone Ronaldo, all the players in Portugal are more or less collapsing. What are the chances of winning a penalty shootout in this situation?
But who would have thought that Costa was so good?
There is no shortage of goalkeepers who have saved multiple penalties in the history of penalty shootouts, but it is a spectacle that has not been seen in a long time to save all three of the opponent's first three penalties like Costa. In the 2022 World Cup, Morocco's goalkeeper Bounou also helped the team achieve a 3:0 penalty shootout score, but one of his clean sheets was not saved by himself. And Costa this time, he manually stopped the opponent from scoring, such a clean sheet is really good.
So, if the goalkeeper saves three penalties in the penalty shootout, is it also a hat-trick?
From this point of view, has Portugal taken a hat-trick to the extreme since the beginning of the new century? Not only can the striker score three goals, but the goalkeeper can also complete three consecutive saves, combining the front and back courts, and they have understood the true meaning of a hat-trick.
If you think Portugal have only one example of a goalkeeper hat-trick like this, you're wrong. In fact, Costa's masterpiece this time pays tribute to Portugal's last door god, Ricardo.
In the quarterfinals of Euro 2004, it was Ricardo who made the first save in the final round of the penalty shootout, and then took the penalty, directing the final scene of Portugal's elimination of England. But Ricciardo's real masterpiece came in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup, against England. In that penalty shoot-out, Ricciardo also saved three penalties, and if it weren't for the fact that Portugal's first few pig teammates were too weak and all hit high, then Ricardo would definitely have a chance to complete a clean sheet. Eventually, Hargreaves scored a penalty for England.
As mentioned earlier, it is very rare for a goalkeeper to save a hat-trick from a penalty, but since the beginning of the new century, there have been two cases in Portugal, which is really amazing.
Hopefully, Costa's hat-trick will allow Portugal to continue their good fortune. Can Portugal get past France in the quarter-finals?