Lionel Messi one of only 15 players to have earned super-rare 10/10 rating from L'Equipe

Lionel Messi is one of only 15 players to have earned a 10/10 performance rating from French publication L’Equipe.

The French news outlet is famously harsh when its scoring system and it's rare for any player to impress enough to get a perfect score.

In fact, only 15 players have received a 10/10 in L’Equipe’s 78-year history.

Franck Sauzee & Bruno Martini - France U21s 3-0 Greece U21s, 1988

French starlets Sauzee and Martini were the first players to record perfect 10s. In fact, they managed the feat in the same game.

After a goalless draw in the first leg of the European U21 championship, Les Bleus welcomed their opponents to Besancon and secured a famous victory. Sauzee netted a fine brace, while Martini made several great saves to keep his side in front.

Oleg Salenko - Russia 6-1 Cameroon, 1994

Salenko remains the only player to score five in a World Cup match. Having scored once in the tournament already, he went on to share the Golden Boot with Hristo Stoichkov despite Russia not progressing past the group stages.

Lars Windfeld - Aarhus 1-0 Nantes, 1997

Few gave Danish outfit Aarhus much hope when they were drawn against Nantes in the first round of the UEFA Cup in 1997/98. Yet, having held the French side to a 2-2 draw at home, they nicked a 1-0 victory in the second leg.

Torben Piechnik scored the goal, but the star of the show was Windfeld, who produced an array of outrageous saves.

Lionel Messi - Barcelona 4-1 Arsenal, 2010

Some 13 years after their last perfect rating, L'Equipe handed out a 10/10 to a floppy-haired Messi, who scored all four of his side’s goals against the Gunners to qualify for the semi-final of the Champions League.

Lionel Messi - Barcelona 7-1 Bayer Leverkusen, 2012

Messi scored five Champions League goals in a single game as Barcelona humbled Leverkusen.

Bernd Leno, who was in goal for the German side, was chipped twice by the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Robert Lewandowski - Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Real Madrid, 2013

Lewandowski stunned Los Blancos with a four-goal haul at Signal Iduna Park - a remarkable feat that foreshadowed the Poland international's transformation into one of the greatest strikers of his generation.

Carlos Eduardo - Guingamp 2-7 Nice, 2014

Eduardo scored 10 goals for Nice in the 2014/15 campaign, with half of them coming in a 7-2 mauling of Guingamp.

Among his five-goal haul was a 30-yard free kick that dipped and crept under the crossbar.

Neymar - Paris Saint-Germain 8-0 Dijon, 2018

Four years after Eduardo’s 10/10 display, Neymar was handed top marks after scoring four goals in Paris Saint-Germain’s famous 8-0 victory over Dijon.

PSG opened the scoring after just four minutes which set the tone for a bleak night for the visitors.

Neymar scored four goals against Dijon to claim a perfect rating (Getty)

Dusan Tadic - Real Madrid 1-4 Ajax, 2019

Trailing 2-1 on aggregate after the last-16 first leg, Ajax remarkably dismantled Real Madrid 4-1 at the Bernabeu.

Tadic was instrumental in the win, scored a goal and assisted two more to help Erik ten Hag's side complete an incredible turnaround.

Lucas Moura - Ajax 2-3 Tottenham, 2019

Just months after Tadic’s perfect score, Lucas dragged his side from the brink into the Champions League final.

After a quiet first half leading the line, Lucas scored twice in quick succession to put Spurs within a goal of a date with destiny. He then netted in second-half stoppage time with seconds remaining to propel Spurs to the final.

Serge Gnabry - Bayern Munich 7-2 Tottenham, 2019

Former Arsenal academy prospect Gnabry netted a hat-trick and grabbed an assist to dismantle Tottenham in the Champions League.

Kylian Mbappe - France 8-0 Kazakhstan, 2021

Mbappe dropped a perfect performance in a World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan at Parc de Princes. He became the first France player to net four times in a single game.

Mbappe became the first France player to score four times in a single game (Getty)

Alban Lafont - Nantes 3-1 Paris Saint-Germain, 2022

Lafont played a blinder to help Nantes claim a historic three points over PSG.

The French giants racked up 3.93 xG in the contest, yet Lafont only conceded once while making a series of jaw-dropping saves.

Erling Haaland - Manchester City 6-3 Manchester United, 2022

Haaland made Premier League history by becoming the first player to register a third-successive home hat trick when he scored three in the Manchester derby.

The Norwegian also laid on an assist for good measure.

Dominik Livakovic - Croatia 1-1 Brazil (pens 4-2), 2022

Livakovic’s heroics in the World Cup quarter-final saw him almost single-handedly thwart Brazil. He made 11 saves during the match and was influential in the penalties too.

His stop to keep out Rodrygo proved decisive as the Croatians went on to win the shoot-out and advance to the semi-final.

Erling Haaland - Manchester City 7-0 RB Leipzig, 2023

Haaland scored his fifth hat-trick of the 2022/23 campaign as Manchester City claimed a resounding 7-0 win over RB Leipzig in the Champions League last-16.

Pep Guardiola brought Haaland off when the striker was just a goal away from securing a double hat-trick.

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.