published: thursday 18 september 2014, 23.38cet fc steaua bucureşti 6-0 aalborg bk
the fastest hat-trick and biggest winning margin in uefa europa league history crowned an extraordinary group j game.
• goalkeeper nicolai larsen's dismissal prompts aab slump • claudiu keșerü scores three in 12 minutes – a competition record • steaua the first side to score six in the uefa europa league proper • next games: aab v rio ave, dynamo v steaua (2 october)
thomas enevoldsen hit the post for the danish side moments after lucian sânmărtean had put steaua in front, but aab goalkeeper nicolai larsen was then dismissed for a tangle with claudiu keșerü in the box. the resulting penalty was the first of two raul rusescu goals which came either side of a competition-record 12-minute hat-trick for his steaua team-mate keşerü.
aab had given steaua a run for their money before the break, giedrius arlauskis saving from anders jacobsen, enevoldsen and søren frederiksen, and the danes had a right to feel hard done by when steaua took the lead, sânmărtean's 51st-minute cross finding its way into the net after team-mate fernando varela had failed to meet it with his head. Łukasz szukała then deflected enevoldsen's header onto the post at the other end.
things crumbled rapidly for aab thereafter. substitute goalkeeper carsten christensen could not keep out rusescu's penalty, before alexandru chipciu laid on goals for keșerü in the 61st, 65th and 72nd minutes – thus breaking steven gerrard's previous uefa europa league record, when he scored three in 14 minutes for liverpool fc against ssc napoli on 4 november 2010.
keșerü turned provider on 73 minutes as rusescu – recently returned from sevilla fc – took centre stage again to help steaua become the first side to score six goals in a uefa europa league game (group stage to final) since the competition's inception in 2009/10.
