Premier League superstar Christian Benteke, who plays for Crystal Palace and Belgium, scored the fastest ever goal in World Cup history when he put Belgium ahead after seven seconds in their Group H game against Gibraltar.
Benteke took no chances as Belgium broke away from the kickoff to beat the previous record of eight seconds held by San Marino’s Davide Gualtieri who scored against England in 1993. Gibraltar had kicked off the Group H clash in Faro on Monday night but they had only two touches before Benteke grabbed the ball and ran on to neatly clip the ball over goalkeeper Deren Ibrahim.
“The coach told us to press high as soon as the game kicked off,” said the striker in an after match interview. He added, “Their defender did not anticipate the back pass well and I got ahead of him and made for the goal.” The swiftest ever international goal was scored after six seconds by Lukas Podolski for Germany in a friendly match against Ecuador in 2013.
Axel Witsel doubled their advantage with a fierce drive in the 19th minute before Benteke scored his second just before half-time. Dries Mertens made it 4-0 in the 51st minute and Benteke completed his hat-trick five minutes later with a close-range flick.
Eden Hazard completed the rout in the 79th minute. Benteke has scored three times in five Premier League games for Palace since his £27 million move from Liverpool in the close season and said he was feeling more confident again after a disappointing stay on Merseyside.