Aiyegbeni 1st, Aubamayeng the latest African player with Champions League hat-trick
Pierre-Emerick Aubamayeng scored a hat-trick as Borussia Dortmund beat Benfica 4-1 on aggregate to knock the Portuguese champions out of the Champions League on Wednesday, thereby becoming the fifth African player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League.
The Dortmund striker became only the fifth African to do so last night but Nigerian striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni was the first to achieve the feat.
The following are the five African players to have achieved the feat
5. Pierre-Emerick Aubamayeng (Borrusia Dortmund 4-0 Benfica)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put his first-leg horror show behind him, netting a hat-trick as Borussia Dortmund secured a 4-0 win over Benfica to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday.
His goals didn’t just put him on the special list of African players to have scored a hat-trick in Champions League but an exclusive list as the first African player to score a hat-trick in the knockout stages of the competition.
4. Yacine Brahimi (FC Porto 6-0Â FC BATE Borisov)
On the 17th of September 2014, Yacine Brahimi netted an outstanding hat-trick, including a brilliant solo goal, on his UEFA Champions League debut as FC Porto routed FC BATE Borisov 6-0 to kick off Group H with their biggest win in the competition’s history.
3. Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona 5-0 Panathinaikos, FC Internazionale Milano 4-0 SV Werder Bremen)
Eto’o scored three goals for Barcelona as they teased their way into the knockout stages in 2005. In fact, one of his goals on the night was assisted by Lionel Messi the curling brilliant strike by Eto’o features in most pundits best ever goals scored in Champions League’s history.
While playing for Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan, Samuel Eto’o scored three goals and created a goal as the Italian champions eased past Werder Bremen on 29th of September 2010.
2. Didier Drogba (Marseille 3-0 FK Partizan, Levski 1 – 3 Chelsea)
Although he went on to become the first African to score a hat trick with two different teams and the first African to score three goals in a Champions League game twice, the Ivorian came 2nd after Yakubu Aiyegbeni.
Didier Drogba scored his first hat-trick on 2nd of October 2003 when Olympique de Marseille trashed Taribo West’s FK Partizan in the group that had Jose Mourinho’s Porto and Real Madrid.
In 20o6 while playing for Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, he scored all the goals to give The Blues a 3-1 away win over Levski Sofia.
1. Yakubu Aiyegbeni  (Maccabi Haifa FC 3-0 Olympiakos Piraeus FC September 2002)
Long before Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o rose to stardom, The Yak lit Europe with lots of goals.
While playing for Maccabi Haifa, Yakubu Aiyegbeni scored all the goals in his club’s 3-0 win over Olympiakos in the UEFA Champions League Group F match on Tuesday 24th September 2002 making him the first African to ever achieve the feat.
