Gift Orban was the hero for K.A.A Gent and the villain for Istanbul Basakshehir as the young Nigerian striker bagged a hat trick to help Gent ease past the Turkish side 4-1 in front of their fans in the second leg of the round of 16 tie in the Europa Conference League
The first leg ended 1-1 at the Ghelamco arena in Belgium but a 3-minute hat trick from Orban helped put Gent in the driving seat.
Orban opened the scoring in the 31st minute when he received a well-played pass from Hyun-Seok Hong before he fired past Istanbul Basakshehir goalkeeper, Volkan Babacan. Just a minute later, he got his second of the game when he scored a screamer from outside the penalty area. He would get his hat trick in the 34th minute when he finished from close range after Babacan saved his earlier effort. Hugo Cypers gave the Belgian side the 4th of the night in the 34th minute when he nodded the ball into the net to give Gent a 4-goal lead going into the half time.
Former Manchester United forward, Adnan Januzaj helped save some face for the home side when he scored from a rebound in the 88th minute to reduce the storyline to a three-goal deficit.
Orban has now netted 5 goals in 4 appearances in the Europa Conference League, just one goal behind the competition’s top scorer Luka Jovic and has recorded 12 goals in 9 games for Gent.