Hakan milestone as Turkey hit five

First-half treble
The 35-year-old's haul included a stunning hat-trick in the space of nine minutes in the first half. It was goalless until the 35th minute when Hakan grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck, firing in three in quick succession. The rout was completed after the break when Tuncay Şanli headed home and Hakan added his fourth to send Moldova home well beaten.

Neutral venue
The Galatasaray SK striker will only wish the Turkey fans had been there to see it - the match was played in Frankfurt as part of the sanctions imposed on Turkey for the post-match brawl at their 2006 FIFA World Cup play-off encounter with Switzerland last year.

Early warning
Moldova received an early warning in the tenth minute when Serghei Pascenco fumbled Hamit Altintop's shot into the path of Hakan but he put the ball over the bar. Both teams struggled to create clear-cut chances and Alexandru Epureanu snuffed out Sabrı Sarıoğlu's shot to keep the visitors on equal terms. However, the home side sprung to life in the 35th minute when Sabri's cross from the right was nodded in by Hakan.

Rampage
It was the start of a devastating rampage as Hakan doubled the lead from the spot two minutes later, after Epureanu had fouled Arda Turan in the box. Six minutes later it was three, as Gökdeniz Karadeniz found Hakan in the box and his header made its way in off the bar.

Top and bottom
The second half brought some respite for Moldova but it proved brief as Tuncay made it four by heading home Marco Aurélio's cross from the left on 68 minutes. Hakan then rounded off the scoring as he sent a neat left-foot effort past Pascenco five minutes later. The result means Turkey sit top of Group C with a maximum nine points - having scored eight goals and conceded none - while Moldova sit bottom with just one point from four games.