Edinson Cavani's perfect hat trick for Napoli topples Messi from top spot of AP rankings

It took something very special to topple Lionel Messi from his position at the top of the first AP Global Football rankings survey of 2013, and it was Edinson Cavani's perfect hat trick for Napoli that did it.

Left foot, right foot and header, three goals from the Uruguayan that pushed his Serie A team to a 4-1 victory over Roma and into third place in the league.

Panelist Will Tidey of the San Francisco-based Bleacher Report says "Cavani's perfect hat trick against Roma served only to heighten the speculation of a possible January move away from Napoli."

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