Franco Mastantuono Leads Fiorentina to 4-2 Victory Over Venezia
Franco Mastantuono tore up the script in Venice, dragging Fiorentina to a 4-2 win over Venezia and straight into the record books.
The night began badly for the visitors. Akor Adams struck in the 22nd minute, putting Venezia in front and sending the home crowd into full voice. Fiorentina looked rattled. Briefly.
Then Mastantuono took over.
The Real Madrid loanee needed just seven minutes to flip the game on its head. He struck first in the 29th minute, then again a minute later, a rapid-fire double that stunned Venezia and swung the momentum entirely Fiorentina’s way. Two chances, two ruthless finishes. Suddenly, the Viola were in control.
Venezia never quite recovered from that one-two punch. Fiorentina started to move the ball with swagger, pinning the hosts back and waiting for the next opening. It arrived midway through the second half.
In the 66th minute, Matteo Pellegrino joined the party, adding Fiorentina’s third and giving the visitors real breathing space. By then, Mastantuono was everywhere: dropping deep, demanding the ball, driving at defenders. The game felt like his personal stage.
He wasn’t done.
With six minutes left of normal time, Mastantuono completed his hat-trick in the 84th minute, capping a performance that will echo far beyond this single Serie A night. Venezia did pull one back late on through Antony Haino, but it barely scratched the surface of Fiorentina’s dominance once their young Argentine caught fire.
The significance of Mastantuono’s treble stretches well beyond the scoreline. According to ESPN, the Real Madrid star, on loan at Fiorentina for the season, has now overtaken Lionel Messi as the youngest Argentine to score a hat-trick in one of Europe’s five major leagues.
Mastantuono did it at 19 years and 28 days. That makes him 231 days younger than Messi was when he hit his first career hat-trick for Barcelona against Real Madrid on 10 March 2007. It’s a stark, headline-grabbing comparison: a teenager on loan, rewriting a line in history that had Messi’s name on it for 17 years.
These were Mastantuono’s first goals for Fiorentina since his summer arrival from Madrid. Remarkably, the three strikes in Venice already match his entire goal tally from last season, when he scored three times in 35 appearances for Real Madrid.
One night in Venice, three goals, one Messi record surpassed. Fiorentina may only have him for a season, but on this evidence, every week he spends in Serie A is going to be must-watch.
