Alexander Sørloth: which players have scored four goals against Real Madrid? Who scored five times? The Villarreal striker joined an exclusive club in his side’s 4-4 draw against the LaLiga champions.

The Villarreal striker joined an exclusive club in his side’s 4-4 draw against the LaLiga champions.

Alexander Sørloth: which players have scored four goals against Real Madrid? Who scored five times?

The Villarreal striker joined an exclusive club in his side’s 4-4 draw against the LaLiga champions.

Update: May 19th, 2024 15:36 EDT

The Villarreal striker joined an exclusive club in his side’s 4-4 draw against the LaLiga champions.

ANDREU ESTEBANEFE

Alexander Sørloth wrote his name into the history books as he tore past a sleepy Real Madrid defence after half time in the eventual 4-4 draw between Los Blancos and Villarreal, taking his tally to four in one game.

The ‘Yellow Submarine’ striker scored in the first half but flashes of brilliance from Lucas Vázquez and Luka Modric - not to mention Arda Güler - saw Ancelotti’s side go into the break with a 1-4 lead.

The LaLiga title is already wrapped up, meaning Ancelotti was able to rotate his side, but the defence that included Éder Militão looked unprepared to deal with the physicality of the former Real Sociedad man, and his strength and perseverance saw him hit three in quick succession after the restart.

What a game. What a performance. What a player. Alexander Sørloth. pic.twitter.com/L5aXbNQJKz

— Villarreal CF English (@VillarrealCFen) May 19, 2024

How many players have scored four or more goals against Real Madrid?

Taty Castellanos became just the 10th man to do so, following in the footsteps of Barcelona attacker Robert Lewandowski, the only player to have scored four times against Madrid in the Champions League (for Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of the 2012-13 semi-finals).

Three former Barça men have also done it: José Samitier all the way back in 1926, along with Eulogio Martínez in 1957. Both of those four-goal hauls came in Copa del Rey ties, while Martín Vantolrà, also while playing for La Blaugrana, became the second man to do it in the league in 1935. The first was Carlos Bastit (in 1929) of Barcelona-based CE Europa, who now play in Tercera Federación (the fifth tier of Spanish soccer) but featured in the first ever LaLiga season starting in 1928.

𝐔𝐍𝐀 𝐍𝐈𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/UJuTpY55aX

— Girona FC (@GironaFC) April 25, 2023

If you don’t quite remember that far back, then perhaps you will recall a more recent cup occurrence; ex-Argentina international Diego Milito scored four goals as Real Zaragoza incredibly thumped Los Blancos 6-1 in the first leg of the semi-finals in 2005-06.

Who is the only player to have scored five goals against Real Madrid?

Incredibly enough, the remaining three names we haven’t already mentioned all achieved the feat in the 1940s while playing for Real Oviedo, a club which was formerly owned by Carlos Slim, whose Grupo Carso still have a 20% stake in. Grupo Pachuca, also of Mexico, are now the majority shareholders. After Martínez Català had done it in 1940, Emilín repeated the feat four years later.

But in 1947, Esteban Echevarría went one better than his clubmates and indeed everyone else, becoming the only player in history to have scored five goals in a competitive game against Real Madrid.

Castellanos’ 34-minute hat-trick

Castellanos scored his first three goals in the space of 34 minutes (between the 12th and 46h minutes), which sounds fast but is less impressive by comparison to Lewandowski (16 minutes), Martínez (15 minutes), Emilín (10 minutes) and Bestit (seven minutes).

Players who have scored four goals against Real Madrid in competitive fixtures

Josep Samitier (Barcelona), Copa del Rey, 1926

Carlos Bestit (Europa), LaLiga, 1929

Martín Vantolrà (Barcelona), LaLiga, 1935

Martínez Català (Real Oviedo), LaLiga, 1940

Emilín (Real Oviedo), LaLiga, 1944

Esteban Echevarría (Real Oviedo), LaLiga, 1947*

Eulogio Martínez (Barcelona), Copa del Rey, 1957

Diego Milito (Real Zaragoza), Copa del Rey, 2006

Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund), Champions League,2013

Taty Castellanos (Girona), LaLiga, 2023

* Echeverría is the only player ever to have scored five goals against Real Madrid

A night to remember for Taty Castellanos

The first of Castellanos’ goals came after 12 minutes, a well-placed header from a cross from Miguel Gutiérrez, signed from Madrid last summer. The striker then ran on to a long ball in behind the visiting defence and held off Eder Militão before firing low past Andriy Lunin.