Barcelona, Spain (AP) athletico Madrid striker Alexander Sorloth scored four goals in the first half hour and set a record for the fastest hat-trick in La Liga history to supplement a 4-0 route of Real Sociedad on Saturday. The Norway goal shooter had a hat -trick to achieve in the seventh, 10th and 11th minutes until the joy of fans at the Metropolitan Stadium in Madrid. According to Opta statistics, his Dis side was the fastest in La Liga, which says the previous best was in 1941 of three goals in the first 15 minutes by Edmundo Suárez de Trabanco. “I only had one of these days that the ball just fell to my feet,” Sorloth said. “Everything went in and they were good balls from my teammates.” Sorloth looked back on his first season with Diego Simeone’s club and said he was satisfied that he started more after being mostly a substitute for Julián Alvarez. “My teammates know I’m going to be in the box,” he said. “They don’t even have to look, but just cross it.” Sorloth got started when he was in a cross of Pablo Barrios. He made it two with a sloping shot just inside the distant pole, and Sociedad was left rough when Jon Martín’s clearance hit the teammate Aritz Elustondo and fell for Sorloth to hit home. Sorloth waited until the half hour point before using one touch to control a pace of Samuel Lino before beating goalkeeper Alex Remiro to make it four goals. He went near a fifth goal in the second half when he fired a flight from the woodwork. Sorloth, who played for Sociedad from 2021-23, also scored four goals while playing for Villarreal last season in a 4-4 draw with Real Madrid. “It’s a relief to have days like this,” he said. “I had one with Villarreal last year. You feel just as well inside when everything comes in. ‘ Sorloth joined Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez as the only players who had more than one game of four goals in the Spanish league this century. Atletico seems to end in third place. Sociedad was in 12th place and struggled to finish in positions for at least a conference league bid in the final season of coach Imanol Alguacil. “It’s a day to take complete responsibility, says it’s not the players’ fault and feel proud of what we’ve done together for the past six and a half years,” Alguacil said. ___
Sorloth scored 4 goals and the fastest La Liga Hat trick while Atletico Real Sociedad explodes
