Hat Trick

Aleksandar Mitrović's phenomenal start to the 2021-22 Championship season continued on Wednesday as he buried Swansea with a first-half hat trick. The hulking Serbian now has 10 goals in as many games this campaign, along with three assists, for third-placed Fulham. 

The 27-year-old has endured tough times recently, often finding himself on the bench last season as Fulham was relegated from the Premier League — this despite the fact that his 26 goals in 2019-20 propelled the West London side to the top flight in the first place. 

Real Madrid hosted Mallorca on Wednesday night, and it was a special (and extremely rare) occasion for American fans of LaLiga as USMNT striker Matthew Hoppe earned a start at the Santiago Bernabéu.

LISBON - It was only last month that Sébastien Haller was being jeered off the field but the towering Ajax forward proved his worth on Wednesday with four goals in their 5-1 Champions League win at Sporting Lisbon.

The gangly 27-year-old striker, who Ajax forgot to register for European competition last season, delivered a masterclass in finishing as the Dutch club got the perfect start to their Group C campaign.

Manchester City and RB Leipzig played the most thrilling game to open up the 2021-22 Champions League season with a nine-goal thriller that saw City win 6-3. American fans won’t want to talk about the Jack Grealish vs Tyler Adams moment for City’s fourth goal.

Adams was caught ball watching and far too lackadaisical tracking back to get to a ball in his final third. His slowness allowed Grealish to pick up the ball and proceed to do horrible things to the American. Close your eyes USMNT fans, Adams is about to get murdered.

MADRID - Real Madrid's Karim Benzema netted a hat-trick as they capped their return to the refurbished Santiago Bernabéu stadium with a thrilling 5-2 comeback win over Celta Vigo in LaLiga on Sunday.

The Frenchman was unplayable at times as Madrid were reunited with their fans for the first time since March 1, 2020.

They played the whole of last season at reserve team Castilla's Alfredo Di Stéfano ground at their training complex.

A massive Group G World Cup qualifier between first-place Turkey and second-place Netherlands resulted in a famous 6-1 victory for Louis van Gaal’s side in Amsterdam.

The Netherlands moved to the top of the group with 13 points from six games, while Turkey dropped to third after Norway took care of business against Gibraltar to climb into the second-place spot. It’s going to be an almighty battle between the three nations over the final four matchdays, but it’d be shocking to see Holland slip-up now.

Borussia Dortmund is thanking its lucky stars that Erling Haaland didn’t leave the club this summer as the Norwegian God did unspeakable things to Frankfurt during a 5-2 victory on Saturday.

Haaland was involved in all five of Dortmund’s goals bagging a brace and having a hat trick of assists.

The 21-year-old set up Marco Reus for the first goal after dribbling the ball down nearly half of and slipping it through to the Dortmund veteran.