Spartak Moscow’s Brazilian striker Welliton (pictured) netted a hat-trick in his side’s 4:1 trashing of Spartak Nalchik before their home crowd to vault to the top of the FTBL ranking of strikers in the Russian Premier League with a tally of 96.34 points.

Wellington’s first two came in a span of just 11 minutes, while the third came in the dying moments of the game through a penalty.

The Brazilian has now scored in two games in a row, and yesterday’s performance earned him 28.15 rating points on the FTBL scale. He now ranks 106th in our world ranking of strikers.

Number-two-ranked striker in the Russian league Aleksandr Kerzhakov (88.44 points) will attempt to close the gap with the leader when his Dynamo Moscow host Terek Grozny this evening. Kerzhakov will have a plank of just 2 rating points to beat in the game.