Three goals in less than four minutes. Gift Emmanuel Orban of KAA Gent has achieved something that not even Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo tried to achieve before him. The 20-year-old Nigerian set a new record for the fastest hat-trick ever scored in UEFA competition on Thursday night.
So far, Mohamed Salah has been the record holder. The Egyptian’s best from October last year was three goals in six minutes against Glasgow Rangers (7-1). Cristiano Ronaldo needed eleven minutes for his fastest hat-trick against Malmö FF (8-0) in 2015, as did Robert Lewandowski against RB Salzburg (7-1) two years ago. Orban outshines all these stars.
In Gent’s 4-1 away win over Istanbul Basaksehir in the Europa Conference League, the center forward drew attention to himself on the international stage with drums and trumpets. But connoisseurs had already noticed the name Orban in the past few weeks. Because the accuracy of the young goalscorer was by no means a product of chance.
Winter newcomer takes off
Orban only moved to Gent from the Norwegian first division club Stabaek IF on the deadline day of the winter transfer window. The current fifth in the Jupiler Pro League table cost three million euros for the attacker’s signature. A proud sum for a hitherto unknown professional. But just a month and a half later it is clear that the investment has paid off.
Orban has already scored seven goals in five games in the league. On average, he scores every 61 minutes. Internationally things are going even better for him – of course also because of his record performance yesterday. In the Conference League, Orban has only needed 58 minutes per goal. In four games, five of them are for the right foot.
Gone again in summer?
If Orban continues to call on his services consistently, the first inquiries will certainly be on the table of those responsible for Ghent after the current season. The fact that the club from the port city in north-west Belgium develops top strikers has already been proven in the recent past.
Jonathan David (20) sold Gent to OSC Lille for €27m in 2020, Roman Yaremchuk (25) left the Belgians for €17m in 2021 for Lisbon to join Benfica. Orban could be next in line. At least he’s gathering more and more arguments that his stay in neighboring Germany won’t last too long.
