Europa League: 19-year-old Alphadjo Cissé, of Guinean descent, scores a record hat-trick for Milan in Salzburg

On Thursday, October 15, 2026, in Salzburg, Alphadjo Cissé scored the first three goals for AC Milan in a 4-0 Europa League victory. He was 19 years and 358 days old. His parents are originally from Guinea.

The young forward opened the scoring with a header in the 15th minute, doubled the lead with his left foot in the 32nd, and finished with his right foot in the 59th, reports Foot Mercato. It was a three-goal masterclass in less than an hour for a player making only his second European start.

A record for the night, taken from a rival of two days

According to Foot Mercato, he has become the youngest Italian player to score a hat-trick in a European competition. He takes the record from Nicolò Tresoldi, who held it for only forty-eight hours after his hat-trick for Bruges against Inter (4-3). The site The False 9 adds that no Milan player had scored three times in a European match since Filippo Inzaghi in 2002.

From Treviso to San Siro, via Guinea

Alphadjo Cissé was born on October 22, 2006, in Treviso, in northeastern Italy, to Guinean parents. Trained at Giorgione and then Hellas Verona, he was loaned to Catanzaro in Serie B, where he scored six goals. AC Milan signed him on February 2, 2026. This season, he already has two goals in five Serie A appearances, in addition to his Austrian hat-trick.

The Milan club is preparing an extension and a salary increase for his contract, which runs until June 2030, reports AfricaFoot, citing Tuttomercatoweb. PSV Eindhoven, Atalanta, and AS Roma are reportedly following his progress.

A national team choice still open

Cissé currently wears the jersey for Italy's youth teams, including the Under-21s. But nothing is set in stone: his origins theoretically leave him the possibility of defending the colors of Guinea one day, notes The False 9. The Syli National, which has been searching for a center-forward for years, has every interest in following the situation closely.

The story has become familiar: children of African migration blossom in European training academies, and then the continent's federations arrive too late to convince them. With Cissé, Guinea still has an open window. Milan hosts Atalanta on October 18, 2026.