People over 50 know Swiss comedian Bernard Haller, died in 2017. Football fans are more at odds with his namesake Sébastien. The 27-year-old Ivorian international, former resident of the France Espoirs team, made a resounding debut in the Champions League on Tuesday evening. The native of Ris-Orangis (Essonne) simply scored four of the five goals of Ajax Amsterdam’s crushing victory on Sporting Portugal (1-5).
4 – Sébastien Haller is only the second player to register a quadruplet for his first Champions League match, after Marco van Basten in November 1992 (with Milan v Göteborg). Staggering. #SPOAJA pic.twitter.com/21Q4BxPRZo
– OptaJean (@OptaJean) September 15, 2021
Arrived in January from West Ham against the tidy sum of 22.5 million euros (record in Eredivisie), Haller signed the 16th quadruplet in the history of C1 since 1992, AFP calculated. The last dated back to December 2, 2020, the work of Olivier Giroud during Sevilla FC – Chelsea (0-4).
In the footsteps of Van Basten
Passed by Auxerre, Utrecht and Frankfurt, the striker struck in the 2nd, 9th, 53rd and 63rd minutes. Previously, only the great Marco Van Basten had signed such a feat on his debut in Europe’s main club competition, with AC Milan, 29 years ago already.
🏆 #UCL
🎙 Sébastien Haller: “It was the game of my life!” pic.twitter.com/TuVdTMy5wk– beIN SPORTS (@beinsports_FR) September 15, 2021
Nkunku and Camavinga also shine
What to leave (almost) in the shade the perfs of other former French footballers, such as the hat-trick of the former Parisian Christopher Nkunku during the heavy defeat of Leipzig to Manchester City (6-3), in the PSG group, or the decisive pass for Rodrygo by Eduardo Camavinga, freshly landed from Rennes to Real Madrid, winner on the lawn of Inter Milan (0-1).