Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek was handed a rare start in Chelsea’s Europa League clash against BATE Borisov at Stamford Bridge.

Loftus-Cheek offered a timely reminder of his potential by scoring a hat-trick to help Chelsea secure a comfortable 3-1 victory over BATE Borisov.

Loftus-Cheek fired Chelsea into the lead inside two minutes and added his second goal of the night just minutes later to put Chelsea in cruise control. Loftus-Cheek curled in his third goal of the evening after 54 minutes to complete his hat-trick.

By scoring a hat-trick against BATE Borisov, Loftus-Cheek joined Chelsea legends Didier Drogba, Gianluca Vialli, Tommy Baldwin, Peter Osgood and Terry Venables as only the sixth player to score a hat-trick in European competition for Chelsea.

No other player in the present Chelsea squad has scored a hat-trick for Chelsea in an European competition. Eden Hazard’s hat-trick this season was in a Premier League game.

Loftus-Cheek’s performance against BATE Borisov proved he deserves to be playing more for Chelsea.