We rarely see something like this! The Spanish veteran forward Aritz Aduriz found the net on 5 occasions in a single match from the European club tournaments. Aduriz tucked the ball away 5 times against the Belgian side Genk in Athletic Bilbao’s home match from The Europa League group stage. The forward has recently been in a good form, as he has scored 10 goals in all competitions from the beginning of the season.
The Spaniard was very close to the record for the most successful scorer in a single match in a UEFA club competition match. The record is held by Mascarenhas, who has scored 6 goals for Sporting Lisbon against APOEL Nicosia in a 16-1 victory (UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup) in 1963.
Aritz Aduriz opened the score in the 7th minute after a great assist by Raul Garcia. Just 16 minutes later, the forward doubled the score, converting a penalty into a goal. Then, the guests from Belgium managed to find Bilbao’s net in the 27th minute, to get back into the match. But, Aduriz didn’t think so and he scored his second penalty shoot just 2 minutes before the break.
Wilfried Ndidi bagged the second goal for Genk 5 minutes into the second half – 3-2! And it looked like the visitors will equalize, before Yeray found Aduriz with a great pass and the goal-scoring machine found the net for the 4th time in the match. However, Genk scored another goal in the 80th minute, keeping their chances to take a point alive. 3 minutes into the added time, Aritz Aduriz received the chance to take his 3rd penalty of the game. It was his night and he had no problems to send the ball into the net for the 5th time in the match!
In conclusion, even at the age of 35 the Spanish forward is really effective and takes almost all his chances to score goals. We will see whether he will be called for international duty again.
