On Thursday night, Amad Diallo became the first Manchester United player to score a Premier League hat-trick since Cristiano Ronaldo almost three years ago.
United’s modern-day talisman did not get the first of his late flurry until the dramatic contest with Southampton had scored in the 82nd minute. Amad’s initial effort was blocked by a fast-fading Kyle Walker-Peters but the ball bounced kindly for the Ivorian who calmly slotted past Aaron Ramsdale in 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 stick a volley past the former Arsenal keeper. As Old Trafford bounced in unison, a collective sense of shock and awe seeped through the crowd as they prepared to celebrate a victory after what had been a performance largely offthe club’s familiar 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 goals tally for the season in the space of eight second-half minutes – it was the first top-flight treble that United have been able to collect since then. Ronaldo delivered the goods to Norwich City in April 2022.
3 – Amad Diallo is the third player in Premier League history to score three goals 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 the three instances of Manchester. united… pic.twitter.com/ttCGlYKSWb
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 16, 2025
There had been 34 Premier League hat-tricks, scored by 22 unique players for 14 different clubs between United’s last two innings. 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 vaguely positive, Manchester United’s hat-trick tally has plummeted since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013. The Red Devils won the title that year with a hat-trick of goals from Robin van Persie against Aston Villa, but they got it. He didn’t record another top-flight hat-trick until June 2020, when Anthony Martial hit a rare pocket of form during a visit from Sheffield United.
Bruno Fernandes completes the quartet of players to have scored a post-Ferguson Premier League hat-trick for United. Including Romelu Lukaku’s hat-trick in Ferguson’s farewell game, six different players have scored hat-tricks against the club in the same period.
All Man Utd’s Premier League hat-tricks since Sir Alex Ferguson
|
player |
opponent (date) |
|---|---|
|
Anthony Martial |
Sheffield United (June 24, 2020) |
|
Bruno Fernandes |
Leeds United (14 August 2021) |
|
Cristiano Ronaldo |
Tottenham (12 March 2022) |
|
Cristiano Ronaldo |
Norwich City (16 April 2022) |
|
Amad Diallo |
Southampton (16 January 2025) |
