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Olivier Giroud became the oldest player to score a Champions League hat-trick in which he scored four goals to help Chelsea beat Sevilla 4-0 and secure first place in Group E.
France’s World Cup winner Giroud had endured a frustrating season at Stamford Bridge, with the summer signing of Timo Werner and Tammy Abraham ahead of him in the pecking order.
But with Frank Lampard resting Werner and Abraham against Sevilla, Giroud had a chance to impress early on and produced a brilliant performance in Spain.
The 34-year-old put Chelsea ahead with a left-footed shot from inside the box in the eighth minute, before doubling the lead after the break with a delicate chip off his right foot.
Giroud completed ‘the perfect hat-trick’ in the 74th minute with a superb header from the center by N’Golo Kante, before adding a quarter in the final from the penalty spot.
With four goals, Giroud became the oldest player in Champions League history to score a hat-trick, while he is the oldest player to do so in the European Cup since Real’s Ferenc Puskas. Madrid in 1965.
Giroud said: ‘When you win 4-0 in the Champions League, it’s a good feeling. It was a great performance from the team.
“It’s a good night for me too because I scored four goals!”
Giroud is the second player to score four goals for Chelsea in a European match after Peter Osgood’s five in a 13-0 home win over UN Kaerjeng in the first round of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1971.
He is also the second player to score a Champions League hat-trick for various English clubs after Michael Owen did so for Liverpool and Manchester United.
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