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14 touches; two goals; three assists. Talk about clinical. Valencia smashed Rapid Wien six-nil in the Europa League, and to say that youngster Santi Mina was on fire is akin to saying that Donald Trump is a little offputting.
The 20-year-old Spaniard had what was probably the game of his life as he tore through Wien's defense like I tear through a pale ale. The Valencia youngster, who arrived from Celta Vigo over the summer, received a perfect 10 from whoscored.com and was undoubtedly the man-of-the-match.
Santi Mina's opening 35 minutes by numbers:
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) February 18, 2016
The demolition of Rapid Wien combined with Valencia's first league win under Gary Neville has lifted some of the pressure off the manager, and Santi Mina must surely be in contention for a starting place after a performance like that.
Despite playing on Thursday like Skynet created him in a lab, he actually hasn't had much of an impact this season thus far and has been mostly consigned to the bench. He's only scored twice and assisted once in 16 appearances in La Liga, and Whoscored lists his weaknesses as: finishing, passing, crossing, holding onto the ball, and defensive contribution.
So, where the hell did this performance come from? Did Mina partake in some weird voodoo ritual in order to steal the spirit of Lionel Messi? Did he sign a pact with the Devil at the crossroads? Or perhaps Gary Neville abducted Cristiano Ronaldo, applied some cosmetic touches a la Scooby Doo, and threw him out in a Valencia shirt.
Or it's just a fluke. But that's kind of boring isn't it?
Either way, here's all five of the goals he contributed to for your viewing pleasure:
