Norwegian striker Alexander Sorloth's performance against Real Madrid at La Cerámica (4-4) will go down in Villarreal history as one of the most memorable, after scoring four goals that could earn him the title of top scorer in the Spanish league with just one matchday remaining.

In Villarreal's history, only Uruguayan Diego Forlán has finished as the top scorer in La Liga, achieving this in the 2004-05 season with 25 goals. Sorloth leads the Spanish league scoring chart with 23 goals, ahead of Girona's Ukrainian forward Anton Dovbyk by two goals and Real Madrid's Englishman Jude Bellingham by three.

With his "poker" of goals against Real Madrid, the 28-year-old attacker now has a total of 23 goals, tying the second-best scoring record in Villarreal's history, which was set by Gerard Moreno in the 20-21 season, and is just two goals shy of Diego Forlán's record.

Additionally, Sorloth has equaled the record for most goals in a single match, a feat set last season by Spanish international Yeremy Pino with his four goals against Espanyol at La Cerámica.

The Norwegian striker joined Villarreal this summer, with the Castellón club paying 8 million euros for his transfer from RB Leipzig, after two seasons on loan at Real Sociedad where he was expected to stay, but ultimately moved to Villarreal.

Sorloth is a true journeyman, having played in eight different countries (Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, England, Belgium, Turkey, Germany, and Spain), and Villarreal is the tenth club of his career, which began at Rosenborg.

With 23 goals this season, the "giant" Norwegian (195 cm) is just one goal away from matching his best league scoring record, achieved in Turkey with Trabzonspor in the 2019-20 season.

In his third season in Spanish football, Sorloth scored eight goals in the first half of the campaign and has netted 15 in the second half. None of his 23 goals have come from penalties. He leads the heading goals chart with seven and accounts for 35% of his team's goals this season.