On Thursday night, Amad Diallo became the first Manchester United player to score a hat-trick in the Premier League since Cristiano Ronaldo almost three years ago.
United's modern-day talisman did not score the first of his late crowd until dramatic race with Southampton he had scored in the 82nd minute. Amad's initial effort was blocked by a rapidly fading Kyle Walker-Peters, but the ball bounced kindly for the Ivorian, who calmly slotted past Aaron Ramsdale at the second attempt.
Amad combined with Christian Eriksen to shoot united in front for the first time on the night in the 90th minute, stretching to hit a volley beyond the former Arsenal keeper. As Old Trafford danced in unison, a collective sense of shock and awe ran through all the spectators prepared to celebrate a victory after what had been a mostly unpleasant performancethe club's renowned savior completed his hat-trick in stoppage time.
Not only was it the first hat-trick of Amad's senior career – doubling his Premier League tally for the season in the space of eight second-half minutes – but it was the first treble in the first league United have been able to collect since then. Ronaldo delivered the goods against Norwich City in April 2022.
3 – Amad Diallo is the third player in Premier League history to score three times in the last 10 minutes of a game after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer against Nottingham Forest in February 1999 and Wayne Rooney against Hull City in January 2010, with all three occasions are Manchester. united… pic.twitter.com/ttCGlYKSWb
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 16, 2025
It had been 34 Premier League hat-tricks, scored by 22 unique players for 14 different clubs between United's last two entries. Erling Haaland alone had collected eight match balls – including one in a Manchester derby.
This is not a modern phenomenon.
Like most statistics that are even slightly positive, Manchester United's hat-trick tally has fallen since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013. The Red Devils won the title that year with a hat-trick from Robin van Persie against Aston Villa , but it wasn't until June 2020 that Anthony Martial hit a rare pocket of form during a visit from Sheffield United.
Bruno Fernandes completes the squad of players to have scored a hat-trick in the Premier League since Ferguson for United. Including Romelu Lukaku's hat-trick in Ferguson's farewell match, six different players have scored a hat-trick against the club in the same period.
Every Man Utd hat-trick in the Premier League since Sir Alex Ferguson
|
Player |
Opponent (Date) |
|---|---|
|
Anthony Martial |
Sheffield United (June 24, 2020) |
|
Bruno Fernandes |
Leeds United (14 August 2021) |
|
Cristiano Ronaldo |
Tottenham (March 12, 2022) |
|
Cristiano Ronaldo |
Norwich City (16 April 2022) |
|
Amad Diallo |
Southampton (16 January 2025) |