Mbappé's (latest) unhappy hat-trick is a rarity in England | OneFootball

Kylian Mbappé bagged a hat-trick for Real Madrid away to Barcelona but it still wasn't enough to help his side win an important El Clásico.

But the Frenchman is not the only one to complete a milestone and still lose out, it is in fact surprisingly common in Spain while a rarity in England.

Mbappé had given his side a two-goal lead early in the game and by the team the forward hit his third early in the second half, his side was already training before eventually going on to lose 4-3.

Scoring a hat-trick while being on the losing side is a relative rarity in the Premier League, and has happened just once since 1996, but in La Liga Mbappé has plenty of company.

In fact, the same thing happened just last month, also against Barcelona when Borja Iglesias netted three for Celta Vigo back in April.

Last season, in January 2024, Álvaro Morata did the same for Atlético de Madrid in a losing effort to Girona. The former Chelsea man broke a duck that came from when Philippe Coutinho did the same for Barcelona against Levante in a crazy game at the end of the 2017/18 season.

To compare to the two leagues, the Premier League has only ever had five hat-tricks that have still ended in defeat (with four of those in between May 1993 and September 1996).

Meanwhile, La Liga has had 13 in total in that time and even had a player score four (!) while still losing a game – something that probably still annoys Christian Vieri to this day when his Atleti team somehow lost to Salamanca in March 1998.

Trivia lovers will surely know that Roque Santa Cruz was the most recent player to do it in the Premier League, for Blackburn Rovers against Wigan Athletic in December 2007.

Dion Dublin (for Coventry City in December 1995) and Dwight Yorke (for Aston Villa in September 1996) also did the same with Matt Le Tissier doing it twice in the space of just a few months.

The former Southampton man turned tin foil hot wearer did it against Oldham Athletic at the end of the inaugural 1992/1993 season before picking up where he left off last season against Nottingham Forest at the start of the next campaign.

Le Tissier's feat is unique and something Mbappé – who arguably scored the most famous fruitless triple – can sympathise with. Although technically, and the Frenchman will feel no consolation from this, that game did end in a draw so the Real Madrid star hasn't emulated Le Tissier just yet.