Dvali celebrations after historic haul

Jaba Dvali created a little piece of UEFA Europa League history on Thursday, declaring himself "happy" after scoring the first hat-trick in the new competition in FC Zestafoni's 6-0 win against Lisburn Distillery FC.

First-half treble
Last week's first legs saw another Georgian player, FC Olimpi Rustavi's Giorgi Megreladze, score the first goal in the new competition, but the 24-year-old Dvali made his own mark as he struck in the fifth, 39th and 42nd minutes against Zestafoni's Northern Irish opponents. "I'm happy I scored a hat-trick in my first home match for my new club," said the forward, a summer signing from FC Dacia Chişinău.

Record margin
Having won 5-1 in the first leg, a 6-0 victory also saw Zestafoni set a record for the largest margins of victory in a UEFA Europa League – both in terms of a single match and their 11-1 aggregate success. "We really wanted to win and also to score more, than in the first encounter, and we succeeded," said Dvali, whose goals last night were followed by an effort from Nickoloz Gelashvili and two for substitute Aleks Benashvili.

Optimistic outlook
Having played for FC Dinamo Tbilisi, FC Sioni Bolnisi and Olimpi in his home country, Dvali spent the last two seasons in Moldova, scoring 20 goals in 48 league games for Dacia Chişinău. Now he is gearing up for a second qualifying round tie against Helsingborgs IF, who feature Sweden striker Henrik Larsson. "It's time to start preparation for the game against Helsingborg," he said. "Hopefully, we will win again."