Marvellous Mertens enters record books with back-to-back hat-tricks

Dries Mertens became the first player to score back-to-back Serie A hat-tricks in over 42 years following a superb four-goal haul in Napoli's thrilling 5-3 win over Torino. The Belgium forward scored three times in the 5-0 battering of Cagliari last week and took home another matchball at Stadio San Paolo on Sunday. Mertens, playing in a central role with Arkadiusz Milik still sidelined by a knee injury, needed just nine first-half minutes to clinch his hat-trick as Napoli raced into a 3-0 lead after 22 minutes. In doing so, the 29-year-old matched the remarkable achievement of Pietro Anastasi who scored consecutive hat-tricks for Juventus in May 1974, with Mertens the first to manage the feat since Opta records began in the 1994-95 season. The former PSV man added another by sensationally lobbing Joe Hart 10 minutes from time, becoming first player to score four goals in a Serie A match since Domenico Berardi against AC Milan in January 2014. 3 - Dries Mertens is the first player to score a hat-trick in consecutive Serie A games since 1994/95. Wild. — OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) December 18, 2016 4 - Before #Mertens, the last player to score at least 4 goals in a Serie A match was Domenico #Berardi (vs AC Milan, Jan 2014). Wonderful. — OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) December 18, 2016