Messi, Ronaldo & only 3 others: The incredible feat Achraf Hakimi achieved in 2024-25
PSG’s Achraf Hakimi achieved a feat in 2024-25 that only Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and a select few others have managed in modern football history – and it’s particularly incredible when you consider he’s a right-back.
The Morocco international became just the fifth player to score in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of the Champions en route to getting their hands on the trophy.
Incredible players including Karim Benzema, Robert Lewandowski, Didier Drogba and Mohamed Salah have delivered the goods on big Champions League nights, but none of them can boast this record.
Here are the only five players to have achieved the feat.
Diego Milito – Inter – 2009-10
The noughties saw the likes of Raul, Andriy Shevchenko and Samuel Eto’o win the Champions League, bagging a ton of iconic goals in the knockout stages between them.
But the first player to notch in the quarters, semis and final and win the thing was a relatively unglamorous one.
Argentinian Sly Stallone lookalike Milito produced the season of his life for Jose Mourinho’s treble-winning Inter in 2009-10.
After scoring in the Round of 16 against Chelsea, Milito bagged further goals against CSKA Moscow, Barcelona and Bayern in the quarters, semis and final respectively.
As well as those clutch goals on the European stage, Milito also scored the match-winner on the final day against Siena that clinched Inter’s Scudetto, as well as the only goal in the Coppa Italia final victory over Roma. Outstanding.
Lionel Messi – Barcelona – 2010-11
Obviously Messi features.
He was just 23 years old during the 2010-11 campaign, when Arsene Wenger declared him “the greatest footballer the world has ever seen”.
That sounds ridiculous for a player so young, but it makes total sense when you consider just how good Messi was back then.
Messi scored 53 goals in all competitions that year, including two against Wenger’s Arsenal in the Champions League Round of 16, one against Shakhtar Donetsk in the quarters, two against Real Madrid in the semis and another for good measure in the 3-1 Wembley masterclass against Manchester United.
Neymar – Barcelona – 2014-15
Barcelona’s front three scored a scarcely believable tally of 122 goals and 66 assists between them in the treble-winning 2014-15 campaign. Just think for a second about how insane that is.
Neymar was the only one of the trio that scored in the quarters, semi and final of the Champions League campaign that year.
The Brazilian scored three goals against both PSG and Bayern and capped off the best season of his career by scoring in the seventh minute of injury time in the Champions League final.
Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid – 2016-17
Obviously Ronaldo features.
The surprising thing is that’s only the once. It felt like when Real Madrid were dominating the Champions League in the mid-2010s – winning it four out of five times between 2013 and 2018 – Ronaldo was scoring in every single knockout game.
The only time he scored in the quarters, semis and final was in the 2016-17. That year he actually notched a relatively fallow 12 Champions League goals, compared to 17 the year before and 16 the year after, but he made sure to score them when it mattered.
That year he didn’t score any of Los Blancos’ six goals in the Round of 16 against Napoli, but he did score five over two legs against Bayern Munich, a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid and two more in the final. Unstoppable.
QUIZ: Can you name every player to score 10+ Champions League knockout goals?
Achraf Hakimi – PSG – 2024-25
Look at the above names. All elite, era-defining forwards.
Let us remind you, once again, that Hakimi is a right-back.
It’s astonishing that he joined that exalted company in 2024-25, but here we are. He scored important goals in PSG’s victories over Aston Villa, Arsenal and Inter.
That’s 33% of his total goals for the season. Talk about picking your moments.
READ NEXT: The only 6 players who completed football with every major honour: Messi but no Ronaldo…
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the 20 players with the most Champions League knockout stage appearances?