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Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero capped off a historic performance Saturday with a five-goal game in City's 6 to 1 victory against Newcastle. With his team down 1-0, the Argentinian rattled off five goals in a span of 20 minutes, including hat trick in only 8 minutes. Aguero joins Andy Cole, Alan Shearer, Jermain Defoe, and Dimitar Berbatov as the only players to score five goals in a Premier League game. Could this be the fastest hat trick of all time?
It turns out, Aguero follows an even more impressive five goal performance from earlier in the season. Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski unloaded an amazing performance of his own on September 22 against Wolfsburg, after coming in as a half-time substitute, by scoring five goals in just a matter of nine minutes, including the first three coming in an incredible four minutes.
Three goals in four minutes certainly must compete for the fastest hat trick of all time…or so we thought.
The truth is, while both Aguero and Lewandowski achieved their hat tricks quickly, their performances don't even crack the top five in terms of fastest hat trick of all time. In fact, neither Aguero or Lewandowski come close to the speed of the fastest hat trick ever scored.
Here's a breakdown of Aguero and Lewandowski's respective hat tricks compared to the fastest hat trick of all time.
Ranking The Fastest Hat Trick Of All Time (Total Time and Minutes Per Goal)
For comparison, here are Aguero and Lewandowski.
Sergio Aguero, Manchester City vs. Newcastle, 2015: 9 minutes, 12 seconds (3.07 minutes per goal)
Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich vs. Wolfsburg, 2015: 3 minutes, 53 seconds (1.29 minutes per goal)
And now here are the top 5 fastest hat tricks of all time.
5. Jimmy O'Connor, Shelburne vs. Bohemians, 1967: 2 minutes, 13 seconds (0.74 minutes per goal)
4. Eduardo Maglioni, Independiente vs. Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, 1973: 1 minute, 51 seconds (0.62 minutes per goal)
3. Tommy Ross, Ross Country vs. Nairn County, 1964: 1 minute, 30 seconds (0.50 minutes per goal)
2. Magnus Arvidsson, Hassleholms vs. Landskrona, 1995: 1 minute, 29 seconds (0.49 minutes per goal)
1. Alex Torr, Rawson Spring vs. Winn Gardens, 2013: 1 minute, 10 seconds (0.39 minutes per goal)
So, it turns out that Aguero's performance is actually almost 8x slower than the fastest hat trick ever scored, while Lewandowski's is about 3x slower.
At that rate, Alex Torr could score 230 goals in one match. Photo: The18.com
Of course, the fun of a hat trick is really watching it unfold. So, below we provide a video of each with historical context for how each of the 5 fastest hat tricks happened.
The Top 5 Fastest Hat Tricks In Soccer History
#5 Fastest Hat Trick: Jimmy O'Connor
November 19, 1967
2 minutes, 13 seconds
Shelburne vs. Bohemians (Irish League)
The top five list begins in Ireland with former Irish striker Jimmy O'Connor. O'Connor, only 19 years old at the time, led the attack for Shelbourne in their Irish league match against Bohemians nearly 48 years ago. In the 54th minute, O'Connor fired a right-footed strike past the keeper for the first goal. Only a minute and 25 seconds later, O'Connor pushed in a cross from teammate Mick Conroy for his second score. He'd cap off his record performance 49 seconds later with a header to win the match for Shelburne 3-2. O'Connor would finish his Shelburne career with 26 goals in 109 appearances, but none more memorable than that November night's performance.
#4 Fastest Hat Trick: Eduardo Maglioni
March 18, 1973
1 minute, 51 seconds
Independiente vs. Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata (Argentina Primera Division)
Argentina brings the number four record in the top-five fastest hat-tricks. During the 1973 Argentinian Primera Division season, Independiente hosted Gimnasia y Esgrima for a match in the third matchday of the season. With the local team leading 1-0, forward Eduardo Maglioni produced the fastest hat-trick in the western hemisphere with three goals in 111 seconds to quickly put his team ahead by four.
Photo: Maglioni celebrates his second goal in his 111 second hat-trick in the Argentine league. Photo: emocionroja.com.ar
#3 Fastest Hat Trick: Tommy Ross
November 28, 1964
1 minute, 30 seconds
Ross Country vs. Nairn County (Scottish Highland League)
Third-to-last on the list is Scottish forward and former Wigan Athletic player Thomas “Tommy” Ross. Ross playing at the time for Ross County, set the official Guinness World Record with a three-goal performance against Nairn County. The 18-year-old striker only needed 90 seconds to etch his name in the history books. The Guinness Book of World Records still has Ross listed as the fastest hat-trick.
#2 Fastest Hat Trick: Magnus Arvidsson
1995
1 minute, 29 seconds
Hassleholms vs. Landskrona (Swedish Superettan League)
Swedish forward Magnus Arvidsson chimes in with the second fastest hat-trick recorded in soccer history. Arvidsson, playing for Swedish second division team Hassleholm, finished the game with three goals in only 89 seconds to help his team avoid relegation with a 5-3 victory against Landskrona in a league game from 1995. Arvidsson spent three seasons with Landskrona, scoring 44 goals in 78 appearances, and reached the Swedish senior national team twice.
#1 Fastest Hat Trick: Alex Torr
1 minute, 10 seconds
Rawson Spring vs. Winn Gardens (Sheffield Sunday League)
April 28, 2013
Sitting at the top of the list is a recent hat-trick from the Sheffield Sunday League in England. The all-time record belongs to 20-year old sports science student and Rawson Spring forward Alex Torr, who shattered the record in an astonishing 70 seconds. Torr compelted his record performance within the first 12 minutes and ten seconds on Rawson's Sheffield Sunday League versus Winn Gardens. Torr added a fourth goal to his count for Rawson's 7-1 victory, securing their promotion.
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