Brazilian born striker Luiz Adriano scored five goals to help Shakhtar Donetsk to a 7-0 demolition of BATE Borisov on a night 40 goals were scored in the UEFA Champions League.
The Ukrainian champions went into the match in search of a first win of the group stage, as was BATE which actually began the match slightly the better side.
But there was only going to be one winner after Alex Teixeira put Shakhtar ahead in the 11th minute, receiving the ball from Taison before rounding the goalkeeper to score.
Moments later, Darijo Srna’s last-ditch clearance denied BATE an equaliser off Maksim Volodko’s goal-bound effort, an intervention that proved the turning point of the game as Shakhtar produced a blistering five-goal spell in 16 minutes.
Luiz Adriano and midfielder Douglas Costa added a goal each before and after the half-hour mark, while a hattrick of goals in the seven minutes before half-time from Luiz Adriano ended the tie as a contest by half-time.
Luiz Adriano’s first half goals put him in the record books as the quickest scorer of four goals in Champions League history, with 17 minutes separating his first and fourth at the Borisov Arena.
Expectedly, the tempo of the match slowed in the second half but Luiz Adriano put the icing on the biggest away win in a Champions League with a fifth goal from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute.
The late effort made the Shakhtar striker only one of two players to ever score five goals in a Champions League match, along with Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.
The result meanwhile put the Ukrainians in second place in Group H on five points, two points behind leaders FC Porto that overcame Athletic Bilbao 2-1 in the other group match.
Elsewhere in the Champions League tonight, Edinson Cavani’s late strike was enough to keep Paris St. Germain top of Group F with a hard-fought 1-0 win at APOEL Nicosia.
PSG, with seven points, lead Barcelona by a point after goals from the in-form Neymar, Messi and Sandro late on gave the Catalans a 3-1 win over Ajax in Camp Nou.