Alves proud of magnificent seven

Afonso Alves was proud to have shown "what he can do" after scoring a Dutch record seven times in SC Heerenveen's 9-0 weekend win against Heracles Almelo.

Stunning haul
The 26-year-old Brazilian international rarely speaks to the Dutch press but made an exception after pulling off a stunning performance in his first league start of the season." I thank the team for this," he said. "I am happy with the goals I have scored. This is important for the team. I have scored seven times, and showed who Afonso is and what he can do."

'The chase is on!'
He added with a chuckle: "That guy from [AFC] Ajax [Klaas Jan Huntelaar] has scored nine times in seven matches, I have scored seven in one-and-a-half matches. The chase is on! I will now go to Brazil to link up with the national team in high spirits and hope to score again for Heerenveen in two weeks' time."

Record win
Alves' incredible Sunday started as he opened the scoring after ten minutes and completed his hat-trick just 19 minutes later. Gerald Sibon scored Heerenveen's fourth after 60 minutes but 2006/07 Dutch Player of the Season Alves was not to be outshone scoring four more goals between the 65th and 77th minutes before Sibon capped Heerenveen's biggest ever Eredivisie win nine minutes from time.

Magnificent seven
Prior to yesterday, four players had stuck six times in Dutch top-flight games - Marco van Basten, Johan Cruyff, Pierre Kerkhofs and Dirk Lammers. Now Alves, who scored 34 goals last season, is in a field of his own. Coach Gertjan Verbeek was understandably delighted, allowing the player to leave the field early to take the applause despite having used all three of his substitutes.

Special treatment
"He deserved that," said the coach. "A lot has happened recently, but he is still is a unique player. He showed that again today because scoring seven times is unique in Eredivisie history." However, Verbeek admitted his decision to allow Alves to leave the pitch early was not appreciated by everyone, adding: "The team was a bit angry because they were eager to score ten goals."

Dispute
Alves has been in dispute with the club since the summer after he failed to secure a transfer to a bigger side with nobody meeting Heerenveen's €19m asking price. He had not reported for training for several weeks but the club finally resolved their differences with him two weeks ago, fielding him as a substitute in last week's 5-1 UEFA Cup defeat at Helsingborgs IF. "I did not expect him to be so far on already," Verbeek said. "It is a pity he was not already that far on Thursday, but that was not only Alves' fault, just as it's not only his performance that saw him score seven times today. It is also because of his team-mates."