Egyptian youngster Bilal Mazhar continued his outrageous scoring record in the UEFA Youth League, after scoring a hattrick against AS Trenčín.
Bilal is the son of former Egyptian international Mazhar Abdelrahman, who wore the shirts of multiple big clubs including French outfit AS Monaco and Egypt giants Zamalek.
A product of the Arab Contractors’ youth sector, Bilal had left Egypt for a chance abroad at the age of 15 and he’s now plying his trade for Greek giants Panathinaikos’ U19 team.
He had helped his club win the Super League 1 K19 title last season after netting 21 goals in 20 games, earning them a spot in this year’s edition of the UEFA Youth League.
The Greek team entered the competition in the First Round, where they beat Bulgaria’s Slavia Sofia 10-2 on aggregate, with Mazhar scoring five goals in the first-leg alone.
The next stop was Slovak outfit AS Trenčín and they were no match for Panathinaikos, who came out victorious 6-3 on aggregate, thanks to Mazhar’s four goals.
In Athens, Panathinaikos won the tie 2-0, with Mazhar opening the scoring after 28 minutes before Leandro Frroku doubled the score just ten minutes later.
A week later, Mazhar kept his goalscoring form, this time scoring three goals as the Greek club won the tie 4-3 to progress to the next round.
Šimon Mičuda fired the hosts in the lead after only six minutes, but Mazhar equalised just five minutes later to make it 3-1 on aggregate; however, two goals from Lubos Praženka in the 21st and 29 minutes saw both teams enter the half-time break level.
Trenčín’s defenders failed to contain Mazhar, who first put his team back in the lead in the 49th minute before completing his hattrick from the spot in the 68th minute.
Georgios Kyriopoulos put the game to bed in the 80th minute to complete the comeback and put his side in the UEFA Youth League play-offs.
With his hattrick today, Bilal Mazhar is now leading the scoring charts of the competition with nine goals in three games ahead of PSG top talent Ilyes Housni, Víctor Barberà of Barcelona, and Liverpool talent Oakley Cannonier.
