Victor Boniface netted a hat-trick in Bodo/Glimt’s UEFA Champions League first qualifying round match victory against KÍ Klaksvík.
A first half brace (11′, 31′), both goals scored from open play – pure Box striker instincts – was followed by a perfectly executed penalty (58′) to mark the Forward’s UCL debut.
Boniface had only previously scored one goal in 12 appearances including in the Eliteserien and Norwegian Football Cup.
Apparently, his feat on Wednesday also means he enters the record books as only the second Nigerian to score a UCL hat-trick – Yakubu Aiyegbeni was the first.
In 2002, Aiyegbeni guided Maccabi Haifa to a 3-0 win against Olympiacos and held the record, albeit in the tournament proper.
He was also only one of six Africans on record to do it. Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, Yacine Brahimi, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Sadio Mane the others.
Meanwhile, Boniface joined Bodo/Glimt in 2019 and runs out of contract in December, but so far it seems he might have won over some admirers in the Norwegian club.
Next up for the Club is a home league game against Sarpsborg 08 this weekend before the trip to the Faroe Islands next week Tuesday.
