Lacazette Goal Equals 49-year-old Ligue 1 Record

Little did we know heading into last weekend’s fixtures, that Lyon and Montpellier’s clash in Ligue 1 would be the most talked about game across the continent due to the 49-year-old record that ex-Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette equalled.

Incredibly, Lyon ran out as 5-4 victors in this match thanks to a 100th-minute penalty from the 31-year-old, which saw him score four goals. However, sensationally Elie Wahi also managed to score four times in this match, effectively becoming the first Montpellier player to score 17 goals in a league season for his club since Olivier Giroud fired in 21 times back in 2011/12.

This game was just the second time in 75 years of Ligue 1 history that two players had scored four times in the same game, with the last occasion being in May 1974, when Reims thrashed Monaco 8-4, with Carlos Bianchi scoring five times for the home side, while all-time Ligue 1 top scorer Delio Onnis netted four.

Effectively, this result lifted Laurent Blanc’s side to within three points of the European qualification places, with Lille in fifth place holding the Europa Conference League spot.

Commiserations must go out to Wahi for not at least earning his side a point. To put it into context, as far as Premier League matches go, there is yet to be a game where a player from each side has scored four times.

However, just four players have scored hat-tricks and suffered defeat, with Matt Le Tissier doing so on two occasions for Southampton against Oldham and Nottingham Forest in May 1993 and August 1995. Other players to have achieved this unfortunate feat are Dion Dublin and Dwight Yorke for Aston Villa, while Roque Santa Cruz’s hat-trick for Blackburn away at Wigan in December 2007 was the last time that a hat-trick scorer has been beaten in the Premier League - ironically, Marcus Bent scored a trio of goals for the Latics on that occasion.

The latter-mentioned match remains the only time in Premier League history that two players from opposing sides have scored a hat-trick.

Meanwhile, Andrei Arshavin’s four goals for Arsenal at Anfield on 21st April 2009 is the only time that a player has scored four times in a single Premier League game and failed to be on the winning side.

Bundesliga

As far as Bundesliga matches are concerned, there were seven goals shared between Son-Heung-min and Bas Dost back in February 2015, as Wolfsburg managed a famous 5-4 win at the BayArena, with Dutch striker, Dost, scoring four which included a 93rd-minute winner.

On top of this, in August 1975, Gerd Muller scored four goals in a 4-4 draw between Bayern Munich and Schalke, while Brazilian centre-back Marcelo Bordon bagged a quad of goals for Stuttgart versus Werder Bremen in March 2004, meaning that they hold the German top-flight’s record of scoring the most goals in a single game while not being on the winning side.

La Liga

The last time two players scored a hat-trick in the same La Liga match was back in May 2018, where Barcelona suffered a shock 5-4 loss away at Levante, with Emmanuel Boateng and Philippe Coutinho capitalising on some poor defending from each side.

In terms of most goals scored by two players in a single match, this record is held by Barcelona duo Alfonso Navarro (5 goals) and Cesar Rodriguez (3 goals) from the Catalonian club’s 10-1 thrashing of Gimnastic in September 1949.

Notably, on 15th December 2020, Real Madrid thrashed Rayo Vallecano 10-2 where Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick, while Welsh teammate Gareth Bale fired in four times. This was the first time since September 1956 that two teammates had scored a combined seven goals between them in a match, with the last being Luis Suarez and Justo Tedaja for Barcelona against Atletico Madrid.

Serie A

In terms of Europe's top five leagues, Lacazette and Wahi’s feat was last achieved as recently as the 2004/05 season in Serie A, as Parma beat Livorno 6-4 on 1st May 2005, with Alberto Gilardino scoring a quad for the home side, while Cristiano Lucarelli sensationally scored all four of his team’s goals.

12th March 2017 was the most recent occasion that two teammates scored three goals each in a single match, as Mauro Icardi and Ever Banega both scored hat-tricks as Inter Milan thrashed Atalanta 7-1. Meanwhile, back in February 2011, Alexis Sanchez (4) and Antonio Di Natale (3) scored seven between them for Udinese in a 7-0 victory over Palermo.

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