Harry Kane scored his sixth hat trick of 2017 in Tottenham's 3-0 win over Apoel Nicosia in the Champions League on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ time), taking the in-form striker's tally to five goals after two Group H games.
After going through his usual dry spell in August, the English Premier League's top scorer for the past two seasons is back to his prolific best. It's now nine goals in his last five games in all competitions for the England striker.
Kane followed up his double in Spurs' 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund by grabbing the opening goal in Cyprus when he finished from the edge of the area in the 39th minute from Toby Alderweireld's defence-splitting pass.
An unmarked Kane got his second in the 62nd when he received a pass from Moussa Sissoko and fired again past goalkeeper Boy Waterman. He rounded off his hat-trick five minutes later with a header from inside the box after meeting a cross from Kieran Trippier.
His haul featured goals with his right foot, left foot and head - sometimes referred to as the "perfect hat-trick.''
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said after Kane's double in the 3-2 win over West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday that he was "in love'' with the striker.
Asked if he'd swap Kane for current world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo, Pochettino said: "Kane is one of the best, Ronaldo is one of the best.''
The 24-year-old Kane tied a Champions League record of scoring five goals in the first two games of a group campaign, after Ronaldo and Filippo Inzaghi. He has seven goals in five games in Europe's top competition.
It was Tottenham's biggest away win in the Champions League.
For Apoel, it is two straight 3-0 losses to open the group, after defeat at Real Madrid two weeks ago.
A two-goal performance by Cristiano Ronaldo gave Real Madrid a 3-1 win at Borussia Dortmund, keeping the defending champions at the top of Group H along with Tottenham.
Liverpool was held to a 1-1 draw at Spartak Moscow to remain winless after two matches, while Manchester City made it two wins in a row with a 2-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in England.
Missed chances were costly for Liverpool as it dropped points again in Russia, where the hosts opened the scoring with a free kick by Fernando before Philippe Coutinho equalised a few minutes later.
Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling scored either side of Sergio Aguero's penalty miss as Manchester City beat Shakhtar Donetsk to take the group's lead with six points, three more than Shakhtar and Napoli.
By seeing his penalty saved by goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov, Aguero missed a chance to join Eric Brook as City's all-time record scorer on 177 goals.
FC Porto picked up a stunning 3-0 victory at Monaco, while Sevilla easily defeated Maribor of Slovenia 3-0 in Spain.
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