Forgotten Premier League player scores first hat-trick at AFCON in 16 years

Former Midlesbrough and Birmingham player Emilio Nsue reintroduced himself to Premier League fans with a hat-trick at the Africa Cup of Nations.

The 34-year-old was in fine form for Equatorial Guinea in their 4-2 victory over Guinea-Bissau on Thursday, to take provisional top spot in Group A.

The winger opened the scoring on 21 minutes, keeping his cool to slot home from close range.

Nsue was in the right place at the right time to notch his second of the afternoon shortly after the interval before rounding goalkeeper Ouparine Djoco to claim the hat-trick ball ten minutes later.

His hat-trick was the first at the tournament since Soufiane Alloudi did so for Morocco against Namibia 16 years ago.

And Nsue’s celebration more than matched the occasion as he gathered his teammates for a well-rehearsed piece of choreography boasting a mixture of football skills and dance moves.

His triple further extended his record as Equatorial Guinea’s top scorer with 18 goals.

Nsue’s first venture into English football came when Middlesbrough signed him on a free transfer from LaLiga side Mallorca.

He represented Boro’ 80 times before making a £1million switch to Birmingham City in 2017.

Nsue left Birmingham a year later and went on to have spells in Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Spain where he plays for third-tier club, Intercity.

Born on the Balearic island of Mallorca, Nsue represented Spain at youth level before accepting an invitation to represent the birth country of his father, Equatorial Guinea, in 2013.