Florian Kamberi capped off an outstanding individual performance last night with his second hat-trick for the club.
Only three other Hibs players have scored European hat-tricks and Kamberi joins an impressive list.
Joe McBride (snr) scored three times against Lokomotive Leipzig in the 1968/69 Fairs Cup then did likewise against Malmo the following year.
Jimmy O’Rourke scored consecutive hat-tricks against Sporting Lisbon and FC Besa in the 1972/73 European Cup Winners Cup then in the same competition Alan Gordon scored three against Hajduk Split in the quarter finals.
The Swiss striker opened the scoring against NSI Runavik from the penalty spot after he had been brought down inside the area.
His second came from close range following a great cross by Martin Boyle then he completed his treble just after the break when Paul Hanlon played him in.
Kamberi had been subjected to some brutal attention from NSI defenders so Neil Lennon quite rightly decided to replace him with Simon Murray in the 51st minute.
He left the field to a well-deserved standing ovation from the appreciative Hibs’ fans.
Hibs will now, almost certainly, face tougher opposition in the next round, having been drawn against Asteras Tripoli from Greece.
After last night’s game, Kamberi told BBC Scotland: “It’s the perfect start for us but we still have to improve. We are not where we want to be at the moment so we will have to recover and be ready for the next game.
“The Europa League is really important. It is the prize for past season when we did so well, and we have to show we are ready for Europe.
“We did that tonight but it is a long way to get to the group stages. But at the start of this qualification phase it was not bad.
“I am not where I want to be fitness-wise but I think that will come with gams. There is nothing like game time. That was my second hat-trick for the club, so it was a nice way to start.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
