Young forward Alphadjo Cissé inspired AC Milan's 4-0 win over Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, scoring all three of his side’s goals and etching his name into Rossonero history.
Cissé has become the youngest player ever to score a hat-trick for the RossonerI in UEFA competitions. With his 20th birthday just a week away, the youngster broke a record that had stood for 67 years.
On 23 September 1959, Giancarlo Danova scored all three goals in Milan’s victory over Olympiacos in that season’s European Cup. He was 20 years and 10 months old at the time.
Completing the top five youngest Milan players to score a hat-trick in European competitions are Portuguese forward André Silva (21), who netted three times in the 2017 Europa League win over Austria Vienna; Pierino Prati (22), who scored three against Ajax in the 1969 European Cup; and José Altafini Mazzola (24), who went one better by scoring five against Union Luxembourg in the 1962 European Cup. He would score another hat-trick just a week later.
The new record-holder is only in his first season with Milan’s senior team. Cissé began his career at Hellas Verona, making his professional debut in 2023. Earlier this year, he joined the Rossonero before being loaned to Catanzaro until the end of the season.
The forward, who represents Italy at Under-21 level, made a scoring debut for his new club by finding the net against Torino, and also scored against Juventus. In Austria, he wrote another chapter in what has already been an excellent start to life in Milan. And there are surely many more chapters still to come...