Franco Mastantuono needed just 90 minutes – and really, a couple of them – to announce himself to Serie A.
On loan from Real Madrid and starting his Fiorentina career in Venice, the young forward delivered an extraordinary hat-trick as Vincenzo Italiano’s side surged to a 4-2 lead over Venezia on matchday four. Three goals, one unforgettable debut, and a performance that turned a routine league fixture into a statement night.
Two minutes that changed everything
Venezia struck first and briefly had the game in their hands. Fiorentina were probing, Mastantuono was lively, but nothing yet hinted at what was about to happen.
Then came the 29th minute. And the 30th.
Twice in the space of one minute and 36 seconds, Mastantuono received the ball on the right side of Fiorentina’s attack. Twice he shifted onto his left. Twice he let fly from outside the box. And twice he beat the Venezia goalkeeper with near-carbon-copy strikes that stunned the home crowd and flipped the match on its head.
From 1-0 down to 2-1 up, almost in a blur. The comeback belonged to Fiorentina; the moment belonged entirely to “Mastan”.
Those goals were not scruffy debut finishes or deflections bundled in from a yard. They were the kind of clean, confident efforts that belong to a player who trusts his technique and doesn’t feel the weight of a new shirt or a new league.
Closing act: a poacher’s finish
If the first two goals showcased his left foot and range, the third underlined his composure in tight spaces.
With Fiorentina already in control in the second half and the scoreboard showing 1-3, Mastantuono struck again in the 84th minute. This time it was all about close control and nerve. He produced a sharp individual move inside the six-yard box, rounded the Venezia goalkeeper and calmly rolled the ball home to make it 1-4 at that stage.
Three goals, each from a different script: long-range precision, repeat execution, then penalty-area craft. A complete attacking display in microcosm.
His night ended in the 88th minute when he was substituted, job emphatically done, leaving the pitch with a hat-trick on his debut and the match firmly in Fiorentina’s grasp.
On a Serie A weekend packed with storylines, Mastantuono wrote the one that will be hardest to ignore – and raised a simple question for the rest of the season: how high is this ceiling going to be?
