Recently transferred to Turkey, Trabzonspor’s forward Mohamed Salah has managed to join a very exclusive statistical circle after a remarkable individual performance in the 4-0 victory over Galatasaray on the occasion of the 6th matchday of the Turkish Süper Lig.
The Egyptian international led his team to a stunning win on Sunday, demonstrating once again his finishing abilities. According to data published by Transfermarkt, his devastating performance makes him the seventh player this century to score a hat-trick against the mighty Istanbul club.
Alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and the European elites
By scoring three goals against Galatasaray, Salah joins a prestigious list of forwards who have achieved the same feat since the start of the century.
The most famous name on this list is Cristiano Ronaldo, who had scored a hat-trick with Real Madrid in a 6-1 victory in the Champions League group stage, during the 2013-2014 season.
Another Real Madrid forward, Rodrygo Goes, had also punished the Turkish club with a hat-trick in a 6-0 win in the Champions League, during the 2019-2020 season.
Former Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck had achieved this feat during a European 4-1 victory in the 2014-2015 season, while Israeli striker Eran Zahavi had his name on this list with PSV Eindhoven’s 5-1 win in the Champions League qualifiers, in the summer of 2021.
Hat-tricks in league against Galatasaray
If most hat-tricks against Galatasaray in the 21st century were accomplished in European competitions, Salah is not the first to achieve this feat on the domestic stage.
Former Togolese international Emmanuel Adebayor notably scored two distinct hat-tricks against Galatasaray in 2017, while he was with Istanbul Basaksehir, helping his team to a 4-0 and 5-1 league victories.
The first player to record a hat-trick against the Turkish giant in the 21st century was Slovak forward Stanislav Sestak, who achieved this feat with Ankaragücü in a 3-2 Süper Lig victory during the 2010-2011 season.
