Mastantuono takes Messi's long-standing record

Franco Mastantuono has made a strong start to his loan spell at Fiorentina from Real Madrid. The young Argentine scored a hat-trick in Friday's (September 11) 4-2 win over Venezia, setting a new landmark.

Mastantuono is now the youngest Argentine to score a hat-trick in any of Europe's top five leagues. At just 19 years and 28 days old, he surpassed Argentina's World Cup-winning captain Lionel Messi.

Messi scored his first hat-trick for Barcelona against Real Madrid in 2007. At the time, he was 231 days older than Mastantuono is now. Thus, the young Fiorentina forward has claimed Messi's long-standing record.

Fiorentina did not start well against Venezia. The hosts took the lead in the 22nd minute through Acer Adams' goal, assisted by American midfielder Gianluca Busio.

Fiorentina then took control of the match. Within the first half-hour, Mastantuono scored twice in the space of just 1 minute and 38 seconds to put his team ahead. He had previously set the record as Fiorentina's youngest player to score multiple goals in a single match.

Mastantuono completed his hat-trick six minutes before the end of the match. His brilliant performance secured a 4-2 win for Fiorentina.

With this win, Fiorentina earned their first points of the new season. The Italian club moved up to 15th place in the league table with three points.