The touching tale behind Gameiro's hasty hat-trick
Only David Villa can boast a faster LaLiga hat-trick than the one scored by Kevin Gameiro for Atletico Madrid against Sporting Gijon.
Kevin Gameiro scored the second-fastest hat-trick in LaLiga history to help Atletico Madrid to a 4-1 win over Sporting Gijon on Sunday (AEDT).
The 29-year-old came off the bench in the second half at El Molinon to win the match for Diego Simeone's side with a devastating showcase of finishing.
Gameiro struck three times in the space of just four minutes and 51 seconds in the closing stages — his only three shots of the match — to secure the win for the visitors.
Only David Villa has managed a treble in a shorter space of time in Spain's top flight, having scored three goals in four minutes and 47 seconds for Valencia against Athletic Bilbao in 2006.
Gameiro dedicated his treble to his grandmother, revealing the touching personal motivation behind his impressive cameo.
Asked if he expected to make such an impact, he told beIN SPORTS: "No, I'm very happy. We played a good game.
"The goals are dedicated to my grandmother. We lost her this week and I've thought a lot about her. These three goals are for her.
"We worked hard to be ready for the 90 minutes. We know we can win games late on, we've done it many times, but it's true that we need to start games better in order to be more relaxed."
Sporting full-back Roberto Canella felt his side was punished for missing some good early chances during what had been an impressive display until Gameiro's spectacular intervention.
"We had chances in the first half, but they have very good people up front, as we've seen," he said.
