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By Johnny Edward.
Gift Orban’s hat-trick heroics in the Europa Conference League has seen the 20-year-old set a new record at his Belgian club, Gent, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Orban scored three goals within the space of just 205 seconds to help Gent beat Istanbul Basaksehir 4-1 in Turkey on Wednesday.
It was Orban’s second hat-trick in four days.
He had netted four times in a 6-2 win at Waregem on Sunday in the Belgian Pro League.
All three of his goals came in the first half of Gent’s 4-1 win, which saw them progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League 5-2 on aggregate.
His treble was the fastest hat-trick ever witnessed in a UEFA club competition.
Orban’s hat-trick took his tally to 12 goals in nine games since he arrived from Stabaek in Norway in January.
His record surpasses the record of Moses Simon who left an indelible mark at the club in his debut season when he arrived at the club in 2014 from Trencin. His goals also powered Gent to the title that year.
Before now, Simon had the best statistics at the club for a Nigerian having scored seven times in all competitions his first 20 games.
Taiwo Awoniyi who spent the 2017/18 season at Gent playing 22 games could only score three goals during his time at the club.
Samuel Kalu also scored twice in his first 10 games at the club when he joined from Trencin in 2017.
Orban however will be hoping to add to his tally for Gent when The Buffalos host Eupen on Sunday.
Gent are placed fifth in the Belgian Jupiler league with 48 points from 26 games.