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LISBON, Portugal — Benfica forward Vangelis Pavlidis has scored the third-fastest hat trick at the start of a Champions League game on Tuesday, against Barcelona. The Greece international scored two minutes into the match and then in the 22nd and 30th minutes but Benfica conceded late goals in a 5-4 loss. According to stats provider Opta Joe, the fastest hat tricks had been scored in 23 minutes by Robert Lewandowski with the Catalan club in 2022 and by Marco Simone in 24 minutes in 1996.
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