Hat Trick

Robert Lewandowski is the most clinical striker in men’s football right now. Give him half a chance and he’ll bury it. Give him three of the easiest chances in the world and he’ll have an 11-minute hat trick. He’ll even score one with his crotch, because why not?

Bayern Munich scored four first-half goals — three by Lewandowski — on the way to a 7-1 win over RB Salzburg to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals 8-2 on aggregate on Tuesday in Munich. 

To my knowledge, there's been one hat-trick of own goals in football history (although even that's disputed). On Sunday, USWNT fans were witness to a second.

New Zealand's Meikayla Moore, who plays her club ball for Liverpool and was receiving her 50th cap on Sunday, put the ball into her own net three times in 36 minutes during the Football Ferns' SheBelieves Cup match against the USWNT.

COLOGNE — Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski got a hat trick to make it 300 Bundesliga career goals as he steered them to a 4-0 win at Cologne on Saturday that restored a six-point lead at the top.

The Bavarians, chasing a record-extending 10th consecutive league title, bounced back from last week's loss to Borussia Moenchengladbach and have 46 points from 19 games with Dortmund in second place on 40.

Barcelona Femení's remarkable 2021-22 season continued Wednesday with a 5-0 victory over Sporting Huelva at Johan Cruyff Stadium. Dutch winger Lieke Martens has been the star of the show recently, and she went top of the Primera División scoring chart with a hat trick after 73 minutes before also assisting on an Alexia Putellas goal.

The first Martens goal was a right-footed volley in the 34th-minute that was hit with too much power for goalkeeper Chelsea Ashurst to deal with.

The debate over who should be the USMNT's starting striker will continue into 2022 despite Ricardo Pepi's recent heroics in front of goal. The 18-year-old was quiet on Saturday night in the national team's 1-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina (a match The18's David Moore likened to "cruel and unusual punishment"), and Gregg Berhalter will be closely monitoring the FC Dallas striker's competition abroad.

On Sunday morning, for the first time this season, all of Paris Saint-Germain’s heavy hitters graced the pitch together, including a debut for Sergio Ramos at the heart of defense alongside Marquinhos. Up top, Saint-Étienne squared up with the quartet of Neymar, Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María.

Chelsea kept pace with Arsenal at the top of the Women’s Super League (the two sides will clash on Dec. 5 in the FA Women’s Cup final at Wembley) by destroy second-to-last Birmingham City on Sunday in an entirely one-sided game.

Chelsea controlled 76% possession and outshot the visitors 25 to two at Kingsmeadow, with Sam Kerr scoring a first-half hat trick and providing one assist while Fran Kirby recorded a brace. 

The pick of the goals was scored in the fourth-minute by Kirby, who saw the keeper off her line and provided a delicate chip from 18 yards out.