Falcao Joins Messi and Shearer in the "Fantastic Five" Club

The limelight shone brightly on Leo Messi this weekend for breaking Gerd Müller's incredible record of 85 goals in a calendar year. 

However, the diminutive Argentinean wasn't the only one raising the bar in Spain as Radamel Falcao became the first man to score five goals in La Liga in over a decade with his quintuple against Deportivo la Coruna. 

The "fantastic five" club is pretty exclusive, but the Colombian striker leads B/R's list of ten of its most prominent members...

Radamel Falcao

During Atletico Madrid's 6-0 rout of Deportivo La Coruna over the weekend, Colombian striker Radamel Falcao had five shots on goal and converted on every single one of them.

With a tally of 16 goals in eleven league matches this season and a reputation as one of the most in-form strikers in the world, Falcao has done nothing to diminish the reported £50 million transfer value he is set to generate in January.

Lionel Messi

Not one to be outdone by an Atletico striker, Leo Messi has also scored five in a game this season.

During Barcelona's Champions League second round match with Bayer Leverkusen in March 2012, the Atomic Flea became the first player to score five in a Champions League game. Those five goals, of course, have helped Messi smash Gerd Müller's scoring record.

Gerd Müller

Legendary German striker Gerd Müller scored nearly 400 goals for Bayern Munich and managed five goals in a game on no less than three separate occasions.

One such occasion was Bayern's September 1976 bout with minnows Borussia Tennis Berlin, where Müller netted the majority share of Die Roten's goals in a rousing 9-0 victory.

Alan Shearer

Three-time Premier League golden boot winner Alan Shearer remains a local hero on Tyneside for his ability to find the net, something he managed five times during Newcastle's 8-0 demolition of Sheffield Wednesday in September 1999.

By the end of the match, Shearer's arm must have ached from raising it to perform his famous goal celebration so many times.

Dimitar Berbatov

Dimitar Berbatov is renowned for his "relaxed" style of play, but the Bulgarian forward wasn't taking it easy when Manchester Utd met Blackburn Rovers in November 2010.

Berba scored five in Utd's 7-1 victory, and that season earned the title of Bulgarian Footballer of the Year and a spot in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year.

Jürgen Klinsmann

The son of a Stuttgart baker became one of Germany's most prolific strikers, breaking onto the scene in 1984 with VfB Stuttgart.

As a 21-year-old, Klinsi enhanced his precocious reputation and put five away in 42 minutes during Die Schwaben's March 1986 visit to Fortuna Dusseldorf.

Roberto Pruzzo

Roberto Pruzzo earned his place in the Roma Hall of Fame in the 1980s by helping the Giallorossi to four Coppa Italias and a scudetto.

In February 1986, Pruzzo delighted manager Sven-Goran Eriksson by scoring all Roma's goals in a 5-1 victory over Avellino.

Ian Rush

Not only did Ian Rush inspire thousands of Liverpudlians to sport moustaches in the 1980s, but he cemented his legendary status by becoming Liverpool's all-time top scorer with 346 goals in all competitions. 

During his first spell on Merseyside, the Welshman struck five times in an October 1983 match with Luton. 

Fabrizio Ravanelli

Italian striker Fabrizio Ravanelli's habit of pulling his shirt up over his head during goal celebrations would surely have stretched his Juventus shirt out of shape during the Old Lady's September 1994 match with CSKA Sofia, which finished 5-1.

That season, the white-haired forward would lead Juve to their first Seria A title in nine years.

Jermain Defoe

In Tottenham's November 2009 9-1 annihilation of Wigan, Jermain Defoe became the third player in Premier League history to score five in a game. (The others were the aforementioned Alan Shearer and Andy Cole for Man Utd in 1995. Berbatov became the fourth in 2010.)

Defoe scored the first three goals in just seven minutes, which is the fastest hat-trick in Premiership history.