Name: Bafetimbi Gomis
Born: Aug. 6, 1985, in La Seyne-sur-Mer, France
Position: striker
Pro club: Olympique Lyon
Nickname: Baby Drogba
Why is he in the news?: The Lyon forward scored four goals and recorded the fastest hat trick in Champions League history on Wednesday, finding the net three times in a span of seven minutes in a 7-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb.
Clubs played for: Gomis cut his teeth with Saint-Etienne in France’s Ligue Un from 2004 to 2009, minus a six-month loan deal with Troyes AC. He shot to fame during the 2007-08 campaign, scoring 10 goals in 30 appearances for Les Verts, and followed that up by bagging 16 goals in 34 matches the following season. A 13-million euro transfer to Olympique Lyon, Saint-Etienne’s bitter rivals, followed in 2009 and he has been a consistent scorer for L’OL ever since.
International career: Although eligible to play for Senegal through his ancestry, Gomis chose to represent Les Bleus in international competition. Gomis made his debut for France in 2008 and went on to make two appearances as a substitute at the European Championships. He didn’t make France’s World Cup roster in 2010. In total, he has earned six caps for France.
Here’s an interesting fact: Gomis scored two goals in a friendly against Ecuador in 2008, becoming the first French player to bag a brace in his debut for the national team since Zinedine Zidane.
He said it: “I’m not a hero. It’s a collective performance” – after the Zagreb match.