Portuguese Under-21 international striker Vitinha became the fourth Sporting de Braga player to score at least three goals in a European Cup soccer match on Thursday, being the first Portuguese and the youngest.
Vítor Manuel Carvalho Oliveira, 22, scored all three goals for the Arsenal players in minutes 15, 36 and 41, in the 3-3 draw at the Belgian stronghold of Union Saint-Gilloise for the Europa League, repeating the feats of the disappeared the Angolan Chico Gordo (1978), the Cameroonian Meyong (2008) and the Brazilian Lima (2010).
Of this trio of historic Braga players, Chico Gordo was the only one who managed to ‘transform’ the ‘hat-trick’ into ‘poker’, scoring four times in the reception against Hibernians, from Malta, in the first leg of the first leg. 1978/79 UEFA Cup round.
Chico Gordo, who was then 28 years old and ended up dying at 51, in 2000, won at two, 17, 19 and 77 minutes, and, in the middle, at 74, Lito also scored, in 5-0 of the team commanded by Fernando Caiado, on September 13, 1978.
For a Sporting de Braga player to reach three goals in a European game again, it was therefore necessary to wait almost three decades, until the 2008/09 season.
On September 18, 2008, in the first leg of the first round of the UEFA Cup, Cameroon’s Meyong Zé, then 27 years old, scored a hat-trick in the reception against the Slovaks of Artmedia (4-0 ).
In Braga, Evaldo gave Jorge Jesus’ ‘eleven’ the advantage, just in minute three, and then Meyong scored three goals in a row, in minutes 18, 31 and 76, the second from a penalty.
Two seasons later, in 2010/11, it was Lima’s turn to score a hat-trick, possibly the most emblematic in the club’s history, as he was designated in Seville and obtained his first appearance in the group stage of the ‘Champions’.
After a victory at home by 1-0, Domingos Paciência’s ‘eleven’ started in Andalusia, on August 24, 2010, an impressive 4-3 triumph, with the ‘face’ of the Brazilian, then 27 years old, who won at 58, 85 and 90 minutes.
Matheus scored, at 31 minutes, the other Portuguese goal, while Luis Fabiano, at 60, Jesús Navas, at 84, and Frederic Kanouté, at 90+1, scored for the Spaniards, who were relegated to the Europa League , a competition in which he would be eliminated on his ’16th birthday’ by FC Porto, who would win it, in a final with Braga.
Today, more than 12 years later, in Leuven, it was Vitinha’s turn to achieve a hat-trick, insufficient to guarantee Braga’s victory on matchday four of Group D of the Europa League, due to two Belgian goals in the second half.
Source: TSF
