Real Betis icon Joaquin Sanchez’s remarkable achievement in becoming La Liga’s oldest hat-trick scorer was another reminder of how veterans are able to perform better nowadays.
So, in light of this, we will take a look at some of football’s golden oldies to have scored a hat-trick in Europe.
UCL: Ronaldo (Juventus, 34 years and 35 days)
The oldest scorer of a hat-trick in the UEFA Champions League is Cristiano Ronaldo, who was 34 years and 35 days old when he scored for Juventus three times against Atlético Madrid on 12 March 2019.
La Liga: Joaquin (Betis, 38 years and 140 days)
The Real Betis captain made history on Sunday by becoming the oldest La Liga hat-trick scorer at 38 years and 140 days old.
Joaquin scored all three of his goals inside the opening 20 minutes of Betis’ 3-2 win against Athletic Bilbao. Incidentally, it was also his first-ever treble in his entire career.
The previous holder of this prestigious record was Real Madrid legend Alfredo di Stefano, who held it for 55 years.
EPL: Teddy Sheringham (Portsmouth, 37 years and 146 days)
Sheringham is better known for being a member of Manchester United’s historic treble-winning squad of the 1998/99 campaign.
The former striker scored an impressive 147 goals in 418 Premier League games for United, Tottenham, West Ham and Portsmouth.
He eventually retired from football in 2008 at the age of 42.
So it’s no wonder why Sheringham is the Premier League’s oldest treble scorer having done so at 37 years and 146 days old.
Serie A: Silvio Piola (Novara, 37 years and 51 days)
The former Lazio and Juventus striker was one of the greats of Italian football.
Piola enjoyed a prolific career from 1929 to 1952, where he scored 273 goals in 547 games in his club career. The biggest moment, though, came in helping Italy win the 1938 World Cup in France.
He finished as the national team’s third-highest record scorer.
And naturally, Piola also held the record of the oldest player to bag a hat-trick in Serie A history 37 years and 51 days old.
Sadly, he passed away in October 1996.
Bundesliga: Claudio Pizarro (Bremen, 37 years and 151 days)
Pizarro has spent almost his entire career in the Bundesliga, where he has starred for Werder Breman and Bayern Munich on route to six league titles, five DFB-Pokals and the Champions League.
The Peruvian striker is the Bundesliga’s sixth-highest all-time scorer with 197 goals in 472 matches, along with an adding 76 assists in the process.
And, even at 41, Pizarro is still playing for Werder this season.
So it’ll come as no surprise to many fans that Pizarro is the oldest hat-trick scorer in Bundesliga history at 37 years and 151 days.
Sadly, he plans to finally hang up his boots in May.
Ligue 1: Tony Cascarino (Nancy, 37 years and 31 days)
Funny enough, it’s an Englishman who is the Ligue 1’s oldest record scorer.
He represented the likes of Aston Villa, Celtic and Chelsea before making a shock move to France in 1994.
But Cascarino proved to be a big hit, and scored plenty of goals from French teams Marseille, Nancy and Red Star.
The former Blues striker got his old boy record at the age of 37 years and 31 days.
World Cup: Ronaldo (Portugal, 33 years and 131 days)
Cristiano Ronaldo is the oldest to score a hat-trick at the World Cup, at the age of 33 years and 131 days, after accomplishing the feat against Spain at the 2018 tournament.
Ronaldo's third goal on the night came from a free-kick, which was also the first time he had scored a free-kick at a World Cup in 45 attempts.
Womens World Cup: Cristiane (Brazil, 34 years and 25 days)
At the age of 34, Brazil’s Cristiane is the oldest in the history of the Women’s World Cup — she scored three against Jamaica last summer.