By Muhammed Enes Calli
ANKARA (AA) – Lille's Yusuf Yazici scored his first European game hat-trick against Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday to add his name to the list of the Turkish players who scored hat-tricks in the European games.
From the 1960s to today, Turkish fans saw many hat-trick scorers to help their teams' victories in the UEFA competitions.
One of the greatest Turkish football legends, Galatasaray's former forward Metin Oktay, scored a hat-trick over the Polish team Polonia Bytom in the European Cup in November 1962.
The Lions beat Polonia Bytom 4-1 in Istanbul.
Fenerbahce's legendary forward Cemil Turan scored three goals against Romanian cub FC Arges Pitesti in the 1973-1974 UEFA Cup season while the Istanbul club won the match 5-1.
Another former Fenerbahce player, Tuncay Sanli, became the first Turkish player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League.
Sanli helped his team seal a remarkable 3-0 win against the English Premier League side Manchester United in Dec. 2004.
This season Fenerbahce collected nine points to be third in the group stage and qualified for UEFA Cup.
– Burak Yilmaz's 3 goals over Cluj in his impressive Champions League season
Former Galatasaray forward Burak Yilmaz — who plays for Lille now — recorded a great Champions League performance in the 2012-2013 season by scoring eight goals in nine matches.
He also became the first Turkish striker to score a hat-trick in an away Champions League match in Galatasaray's 3-1 win against Cluj in November 2012.
Former winger Olcan Adin also added his name to this list when Trabzonspor defeated Apollon Limassol from the Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus 4-2 in the Europa League in November 2013.
He led his team to victory with three goals in Trabzon as he was the first Trabzonspor player to score a hat-trick in any European game.
– Fenerbahce's Semih Senturk scored 4 goals against MTK Budapest
Fenerbahce's Semih Senturk had a great form in Istanbul's clubs Champions League second qualifying round game against MTK Budapest in 2008.
He scored four goals while his team defeated the Hungarian club 5-0 to qualify for the third qualifying round.
Galatasaray's Ardan Turan, former Barcelona and Atletico Madrid player, is another Turkish player who scored a hat-trick in the Champions League.
He dominated the Champions League group match against Borussia Monchengladbach in 2016 with three goals, while Barcelona gained a comfortable 4-0 win at Camp Nou.
