With four goals from four shots, Yeremy Pino became the first Villarreal player to score four times in a Spanish league game on Sunday.
Pino scored a hat-trick before half-time and added another goal in the second half of Villarreal’s 5-1 home rout of Espanyol.
The 19-year-old Spain forward had never scored more than one goal in a game in his career. He is the third-youngest four-goal scorer in the history of the Spanish league.
It was the eighth win for Villarreal in their last 11 league games, with the only loss coming at Elche in January.
Unai Emery’s team came into the game on the back of a 1-1 draw at home to Juventus in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League.
Keidi Bare scored Espanyol’s lone goal in the second half. Villarreal’s fifth was scored by Boulaye Dia in the final stages of the game at the La Ceramica Stadium.
The win moved Villarreal up to fifth place, three points behind fourth-place Atletico Madrid, who won 2-0 at Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Espanyol’s winless streak reached eight matches in all competitions, with five losses and three draws. They stayed in 14th place.
