Franco Mastantuono's Historic Hat-Trick for Fiorentina
Franco Mastantuono ripped up the script in Venice and, in the process, rewrote a slice of Argentine football history.
The 19-year-old on-loan Real Madrid midfielder dragged Fiorentina to a 4-2 win over Venezia in Serie A’s fourth round, turning a shaky night into a statement performance that will echo well beyond Italy.
Venezia struck first. Akor Adams punished slack defending in the 22nd minute, and for a while Fiorentina looked rattled, second-best in the duels and short of ideas in the final third.
Then Mastantuono took over.
He needed just seven minutes to flip the game on its head. In the 29th minute, he drew Fiorentina level, finishing off a move that finally sliced through Venezia’s back line. Barely a heartbeat later, in the 30th, he struck again, this time with the confidence of a player who knew the night now belonged to him.
From trailing 1-0 to leading 2-1 in the space of two minutes, Fiorentina suddenly played with a different posture. The passes were sharper, the press more aggressive, Venezia pinned back.
The pressure told again after the break. Matteo Pellegrino added the third in the 66th minute, stretching the lead and giving Fiorentina the cushion their dominance deserved. Venezia, stunned, chased shadows for long spells.
Mastantuono wasn’t finished.
As Venezia pushed late, he picked his moment and completed his hat-trick in the 84th minute, killing off any lingering doubt and turning a strong performance into a historic one. Antony Haino’s late goal for Venezia barely registered as more than a consolation.
The numbers behind Mastantuono’s night underline just how significant it was. According to ESPN, the Real Madrid starlet has now overtaken Lionel Messi as the youngest Argentine ever to score a hat-trick in one of Europe’s top five leagues.
Mastantuono did it at 19 years and 28 days. That makes him 231 days younger than Messi was when the Barcelona icon hit his first career hat-trick, also in a Clasico cauldron against Real Madrid on 10 March 2007.
These were Mastantuono’s first goals for Fiorentina since his one-season loan move from Madrid. In one evening, he not only opened his account in Italy but also matched his entire goal tally from last season with Real Madrid, when he scored three times across 35 matches.
One game, three goals, one record taken from Messi.
For Fiorentina and for Real Madrid watching from afar, this didn’t feel like a random outburst. It felt like the night a prodigy announced he intends to stay.
