Sam Kerr makes Chelsea history with four goals in Champions League rout as Matildas star ends mini-goal drought

Joshua Thomas

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Sam Kerr makes Chelsea history with four goals in Champions League rout as Matildas star ends mini-goal drought image

After going three games without a goal, Sam Kerr made up for lost time in Chelsea's UEFA Women's Champions League clash against Vllaznia on Wednesday night. 

The Matildas striker had previously scored just once across six appearances for the Blues this season but was back to her best on Europe's biggest stage. 

Kerr opened the scoring for Chelsea after just 10 minutes and would score her fourth on the hour mark to become the first player to score four goals in one game for the club in the competition. 

Remarkably, three of the Australian's goals were assisted by Norwegian Guro Reiten, who ended the night with four goal contributions to her name to rival Kerr for Player of the Match honours. 

Chelsea would win the match against their Albanian opponents 8-0 to move two points clear at the top of Group A. 

The Blues face Real Madrid next in the Champions League with the Spanish side drawing 0-0 with PSG on Wednesday. 

Kerr's side began the 2022/23 season with a shock 2-1 loss to Liverpool in the Women's Super League but have since gone on to win six straight games and haven't conceded in their past three matches. 

Kerr herself has returned to form in fine fashion with her four-goal performance coming just a week after finishing third in the 2022 Ballon d'Or.

The Aussie celebrated her hat-trick with a trademark backflip but revealed it was a teammate that called for the celebration. 

"[The backflip] wasn't on my mind but at half-time Millie [Bright] said: 'If you score the hat-trick can you please do it?'," Kerr told the BBC. 

"I haven't done a backflip here in a long time and this was my first in the Champions League. Scoring my first Champions League hat-trick is a night I will remember forever."

With the Matildas recently handed a tough group draw for the 2023 Women's World Cup, they'll be hoping Kerr can continue to fire on all cylinders. 

Joshua Thomas

Joshua Thomas Photo

Josh has been covering sport for nearly a decade now having fallen in love with football at a young age. A UTS graduate, Josh has previously worked for GOAL and now covers football closely for The Sporting News.