On Friday, La Viola won 4-2 away at Venezia, with the main credit going to 19-year-old talent Franco Mastantuono, who scored a hat-trick and earned a rare perfect 10 in Flashscore player ratings.
Fiorentina didn’t start the match well and were trailing in the 22nd minute after a goal by Akor Adams. But then the young Argentine, on loan from Real Madrid, took charge. In the 29th and 30th minutes, he scored twice to put the visitors ahead 2-1.
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And both goals were almost identical. Each time, Mastantuono cut in from the right to the centre of the pitch and fired a left-footed shot from outside the box into the corner - once to the right post, once to the left. As if it was routine for him.
He completed his hat-trick in the second half, making it 4-1 for Fiorentina in the 84th minute. This time, he had a bit of luck. His first shot was saved by the goalkeeper, but the ball bounced straight into Mastantuono’s face and, from there, back past the helpless keeper into the net.
Record-breaking performance
With this performance, Mastantuono broke several records. At 19 years and 28 days old, he became the youngest Fiorentina player ever to score a hat-trick, surpassing the record held by Claudio Desolati.
He is now also the youngest foreign player in Serie A to score three goals in a match. And last but not least, he broke a record held by Lionel Messi, who until Friday evening was the youngest Argentine to score a hat-trick in one of Europe’s 'top five' leagues. Mastantuono beat Messi's 2007 record by 235 days.
But Mastantuono’s contribution wasn’t just about goals; he was very active throughout the match, as shown by his eight shots, five of which were on target. His shooting was also of high quality - he improved his expected goals (xG) value of 1.21 to an xGOT of 2.65. He also attempted five dribbles, succeeding in three of them.
The Argentine wasn’t just a finisher; he also played a creative role. Against Venezia, he set up four shots, made one through ball, and created one big chance. In total, he completed 22 passes out of 26 and had 54 touches. That’s why his expected assists value reached a solid 0.27.
It’s common to see attacking numbers offset by weaker defensive work, but that wasn’t the case for Mastantuono. He won 46% of his duels (six out of 13), was fouled twice, intercepted one opponent's pass, and recovered five balls. Thanks to this all-around performance, he earned the highest possible rating of 10 from us at Flashscore.
And that’s despite missing one big chance and not performing well in aerial duels (zero won out of three). Still, Mastantuono has made a statement, and it will be interesting to see where his career goes from here!