Premier League fans will likely remember Alexander Sorloth as a flop after he scored zero goals in 16 Premier League games for Crystal Palace in 2018 and 2019.
But the 28-year-old Norwegian striker has been in red-hot form for Villarreal this season.
Sorloth has bagged 23 goals in 33 La Liga appearances, including FOUR against Real Madrid on Sunday.
Madrid – who have already been crowned champions of Spain with games to spare – have the best defensive record in La Liga by quite some distance.
Therefore, when Carlo Ancelotti’s team went into half-time at the Estadio de la Ceramica leading 4-1 many felt that the game was well and truly over.
But Sorloth – who had scored what looked like being little more than a consolation goal for Villarreal in the first half – netted three times within 11 minutes of the restart to earn his side a 4-4 draw.
Arda Guler had earlier bagged a brace for Madrid, whose other goals came courtesy of Lucas Vazquez and Joselu.
Sorloth’s incredible performance against Madrid catapulted him into the lead in the race for this season’s Golden Boot in La Liga.
With just one round of fixtures remaining, Sorloth’s closest rival is Girona’s Artem Dovbyk, who is two goals behind.
2023/24 La Liga Golden Boot race with one week remaining
- Alexander Sorloth (Villarreal) – 23 goals
- Artem Dovbyk (Girona) – 21 goals
- Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) – 19 goals
- Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona) – 18 goals
Sorloth’s former side were also in action on Sunday as Palace ended their Premier League campaign by thrashing Aston Villa 5-0 at Selhurst Park.
Jean-Philippe Mateta scored the second hat-trick of his Palace career and Eberechi Eze netted the other two goals.
Palace finished 10th in the league table, after taking a remarkable 19 points from their final seven fixtures, including wins over Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester United.
Crystal Palace’s final seven results of the season
- Liverpool 0-1 Crystal Palace
- Crystal Palace 5-2 West Ham
- Crystal Palace 2-0 Newcastle
- Fulham 1-1 Crystal Palace
- Crystal Palace 4-0 Manchester United
- Wolves 1-3 Crystal Palace
- Crystal Palace 5-0 Aston Villa
