Note: this article is an adaptation of the article ‘Cros, el primer ‘hat trick’ de la història de la lliga espanyola’ in Catalan.

The most famous striker in Catalonia during the 1920s broke many records, was a fan favorite, and, since 2023, even has a street named after him. However, while celebrating the Europa’s centenary in 2007, an unpublished fact was revealed: Manuel Cros scored the first hat-trick in the history of La Liga. This statistic was recorded in the second round of the first Primera División season (1929), but until recently, no one with a profound interest in Europa’s history knew about it. It was in an article by the football magazine Don Balón, which, while the club was celebrating its centenary, revealed this fact that allowed Europa to star again in the history of national football.

Let's start from the beginning: what is a hat-trick? Currently, many football fans might think of this question as stupid or even insulting. However, it is not as ridiculous as it may seem. Many people confuse the concept of scoring three goals in a match with the true meaning of the term. Yes, a hat-trick is when a player scores three goals for their team. However, in order for three goals to become a hat-trick in the traditional meaning of the term, those goals have to be scored consecutively. Even if a football player scores five goals in one match, if at least three of those five goals are not scored consecutively, the player has not scored a hat-trick.



The first player to score three goals in La Liga -it were even four- was Jaime Lazcano, an attacker for Real Madrid. Coincidentally enough, he scored those four goals in Real Madrid’s first-ever league match... which was against Europa! The blancos won by an overwhelming 5-0. The goals were made by Lazcano (50’, 59’, 75’, and 83’) and Morera (63’). Because his teammate Morera scored in between Lazcano’s second and third goals, he did not score the first hat-trick in La Liga's history. His four goals were not consecutive; they were interrupted. The first ‘true’ hat-trick was only recorded one week later, with the result Europa 5 – Arenas de Getxo 2. Manuel Cros, just as Jaime Lazcano had done, scored four out of five goals for his team. However, Cros did score three consecutive goals. The goals were scored by Cros (12’), Ramonzuelo (25’), and three more successive goals by Cros (56’, 68’, and 73’).

Cros wrote history as the player to score the first ‘hat-trick’ in La Liga. However, it would not be the only memorable hat-trick during this opening season. At the return match against Real Madrid, Europa scored five goals, becoming the first team ever to score five goals against the Madrilean powerhouse, as the game finished 5-2. In that match, Lazcano and Cros came face to face again, but the Real Madrid striker did not score this time. Cros would also fail to be the MVP; there was another footballer who scored a hat-trick: Bestit, who scored the first three goals of the match (8’, 13’, and 15’).

For decades, Europa supporters have been commenting about the scarce historical information about our club, especially the period from its origins to the 1950s. This information about Cros’ achievement, for example, has always been out there, but both club historians and loyal supporters had overlooked it. If anyone still had any doubts about Cros being Europa’s greatest player of all time, the fantastic first La Liga hat-trick he produced during the hammering against Arenas confirms his status.