Five goals for the history books

On 3 November 2016, Aritz Aduriz earned himself a place in goalscoring record books in continental football competitions. Athletic Club’s striker scored the five Red and Whites’ winning goals in a memorable match where they won 5-3 against Belgian KRC Genk, in the Europa League Group Stages.

Aduriz’s five goals have made him the only footballer to achieve such a milestone (leaving aside preliminary rounds and previous stages) since the Europa League replaced the former UEFA CUP in 2009. Under its present format, in the most prestigious continental competition, the Champions League (since 1992), only Leo Messi (FC Barcelona) – with five goals in their 7-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012-, and Luiz Adriano -with another five in Shakthar’s 0-7 win to BATE Borissov in 2014- equal the record held by the red-and-white striker.

5 GOALS IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE*

07/03/2012: Lionel Messi – FC Barcelona – Bayer Leverkusen 7-1

21/10/2014: Luiz Adriano – Bate Borisov – Shakthar Donesk 0-7

5 GOALS IN EUROPEAN CUP*

14/09/1966: Paul Van Himst – Haka – Anderlecht 1-10

24/10/1972: Gerd Müller – Bayern Munich – Omonia 9-0

13/09/1978: Claudio Sulser – Grasshopper – Valletta 8-0

24/10/1979: Søren Lerby – AFC Ajax – Omonia 10-0

5 GOALS IN EUROPA LEAGUE*

03/11/2016: Aritz Aduriz – Athletic Club – Genk 5-3

5 GOALS IN UEFA CUP*

28/09/1971: Ludwig Bründl – TSV Eintracht Braunschweig – Glentoran FC 6-1

13/09/1972: Petko Petkov – PFC Beroe Stara Zagora – FK Austria Wien 7-0

13/09/1972: Jozef Čapkovič – ŠK Slovan Bratislava – FK Vojvodina 6-0

07/11/1972: Johannes Löhr – 1. FC Köln – Viking FK 9-1

15/09/1976: Kevin Hector – Derby County FC – Finn Harps FC 12-0

03/10/1984: Marco van Basten – AFC Ajax – FC Differdange 03 14-0

16/09/1992: Daniel Fonseca – Valencia CF – SSC Napoli 1-5

27/09/1994: Fabrizio Ravanelli – Juventus FC – CSKA Sofía 5-1

* Exclunding preliminary rounds and previous qualifying stages