On A Day Like Today: Pasieguito's hat trick against Racing

On April 26th, 1953, Bernardino Pérez Elizarán -better known as 'Pasieguito', scored a spectacular hat trick against Racing Santander at Mestalla. He did so on Matchday 29 of the LaLiga season, in a game that Valencia CF won 7-1, with Sócrates (x2),  Fuertes and Buqué joining him on the scoresheet.

Pasieguito was a VCF legend three times over, as he represented the club as a midfield maestro, successful coach and technical secretary. As a player, he won the Copa in 1949 and 1954, plus the Copa Eva Duarte Perón (now the Spanish Supercopa), all the while forming a formidable duo in the centre of the park with Antonio Puchades. He would score over 11 official goals for four consecutive seasons.

After hanging up his boots, Pasieguito returned to Valencia CF in a technical secretary role, switching to coach in several different spells. When in the dugout he lifted the 1979 Copa del Rey and the European Supercup in 1980.

His moves in the boardroom were also tremendously successful, as in 1976 he signed the then-unknown Mario Kempes (who would go on to win the World Cup twice), and in the mid-90s he picked up Pedja Mijatovic for VCF.