On top of boasting the most goals in Ligue 1 Uber, Olympique de Marseille have a tradition of triple-plays in their history. On Friday night, Arkadiusz Milik joined the likes of André Ayew and Florian Thauvin in the club's pantheon of hat-trick heroes...
Arkadiusz Milik is level with André Ayew! By scoring a hat-trick against Angers SCO on Friday (5-2), his second in the elite after the one against... Angers on 16 May, 2021, the Polish international ended a ten-match (and 21-shot) Ligue 1 Uber Eats drought. What's more, he became just the third player to score at least two hat-tricks with OM in the championship in the 21st century after André Ayew (2) and Florian Thauvin (3).
The latter managed three hat-tricks over three seasons between 2016 and 2018, a feat had not achieved by a Marseillais in Ligue 1 Uber Eats since Jean-Pierre Papin, who hot three or more goals on seven occasions (two quadruples and five hat-tricks) between August 1989 and December 1991, all at the Vélodrome. JPP scored his two quadruples in the championship against the former international Gilles Rousset, first with Sochaux in 1989 (6-1), then with OL (7-0) in 1991.
With hat-tricks against Caen, Metz and Amiens, two of which came away from home, Florian Thauvin accomplished what neither Mamadou Niang (one hat-trick, in February 2010 against ASNL) nor Djibril Cissé (one hat-trick, in January 2008 against Caen), nor André Ayew (two hat-tricks, in April 2011 and April 2014 against Nice and AC Ajaccio), nor even 1993 European champions Alen Boksic (one hat-trick, in May 1993) and Rudi Völler (one hat-trick, in January 1993) could manage before him.
Alcazar, a hat-trick in the first season of the French championship
Olympique de Marseille is the only club to have scored more than 4000 goals in its history in Ligue 1 Uber Eats and holds the record for the number of top scorer titles (12). As a result, the Orange Vélodrome has been thrilled on many occasions by the offensive exploits of their Olympiens. The club whose motto is 'Droit au But' - 'Right to Goal' is historically inclined to attack and has been rewarded with 80 hat-tricks in the French championship.
OM did not wait long to witness its first hat-trick. Joseph Alcazar was the first striker in the club's history to do score in the French league and also the first to score a hat-trick - in the 7-0 victory over Olympique Lillois in the first season of the new French league. Alcazar even scored three of Marseille's first four hat-tricks and managed to score a total of five, including two quadruples, between 1932 and 1935. He would be the first of a long list of brilliant scorers for Olympique de Marseille.
Willy Kohut (1934) and Edmond Weiskopf (1937) bagged two hat-tricks each, while Mario Zatelli scored more and more between 1935 and 1938, and then a last one at the age of almost 35 in 1947, to total eight matches with three or more goals score (including one quadruple). This kind of stellar striking saw the forward to finish second in the scoring charts in 1937.
Gunnar Andersson tops the list
Tenth-top scorer in the history of Ligue 1 Uber Eats, Gunnar Andersson set a club record, with 12 Ligue 1 Uber Eats performances boasting at least three goals! The legendary Swedish striker scored his first in May 1951 against the Girondins at the Vélodrome (3-3) and his last in March 1957 with a quadruple against Saint-Etienne (4-3).
In a gloomy season for the club (1951-52), which was saved only by victory in the play-offs, the top scorer of the 1952-1953 campaign scored one of his most important doubles on the penultimate day, again against Bordeaux (6-0). The following season, the Swede kept his pace to play three more games with at least three goals scored, including a third at the expense of Bordeaux (January 1953), and beat the record for the number of goals scored in a season in the French championship (35), which would last 13 years (Philippe Gondet 36 goals, FC Nantes).
Skoblar no slouch
Under Mario Zatelli, Josip Skoblar (three-time Ligue 1 Uber Eats top scorer between 1971 and 1973) also achieved a great performance, playing eight games with at least three goals scored! In the process, he brought back the record for the number of goals scored in a season (44 in 70-71). The Croatian, whose first hat-trick came against OL in 1970, also bagged two quadruples (in May 1971 and August 1973).
During his record season (1970-71), Skoblar managed to score at least three goals on four occasions, including once on the final day against Strasbourg (6-3), a month before his first quadruple (three goals scored in the first half), against Stade Rennais at home. These two performances in the home stretch of the season played a key role in OM's title win that year. In terms of hat-tricks that have helped OM to a Ligue 1 Uber Eats title, Mamadou Niang is the latest to have done so, the Senegal international having put three past AS Nancy Lorraine (3-1) on February 21, 2010 as Didier Deschamps' side dominated their way to the division honours.