Almost stole Lionel Messi's record of nearly 20 years! Real Madrid loanee causes a stir in Serie A

Since his eagerly awaited arrival in Europe, Franco Mastantuono has so far struggled to adapt to the new surroundings and has only rarely been able to show his talent. Perhaps the 19-year-old found the spark he needed on Friday.

Mastantuono's hat-trick at Venezia saw the Argentine take a record from his great compatriot Lionel Messi that had stood for almost 20 years. He is now the youngest Argentine to score a hat-trick in one of Europe's major leagues (Italy, England, Spain, Germany, France).

On Friday, the right winger was 19 years and 28 days old, which made him 231 days younger than Messi when he put on that goal show on 10 March 2007. In Messi's defence, it should be added that he scored his first hat-trick in the Clasico against Real Madrid.

After Fiorentina fell 1-0 behind in the first half, Mastantuono needed just 98 seconds in Venice to fire them in front with a quickfire brace.

Then, in the 84th minute, he finally made sure of the result with his third goal. Florence pulled away to lead 4-1, and by the end the 4-2 scoreline had delivered not only their first win of the new Serie A season, but also their first points altogether.

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Plenty of the credit for the Tuscan club's first success of the season naturally goes to the young goalscorer. But coach Paolo Vanoli also deserves a mention. He kept Fiorentina up last season, but the club still replaced him in the summer with 2006 World Cup winner Fabio Grosso.

Following his poor start of three defeats and a goal difference of 1:9, he was immediately dismissed, and Vanoli returned to the dugout in Florence during the past week.

Mastantuono joined Real Madrid from River Plate in 2025 for €45 million. He had yet to make a real impression at Los Blancos, despite recording 35 appearances in all competitions (42 minutes on average), three goals and one assist. Now he has hit three goals in a single game in Florence. He is still on loan in Italy until next summer.