This time last year, people would have laughed at the suggestion that Chris Smalling would be one of United’s best performing players, third in line for the captain’s armband and living it large in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Well who’s laughing now?
The Manchester United centre-half has joined the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Frank Lampard in the updated Guinness Book of World Records for a brace he scored against Burnley last season.
Smalling entered the book for scoring the fastest goal in the Premier League by a substitute from kick-off when he opened the scoring against Sean Dyche’s side in February.
And his goal 38 minutes later meant that he’d be in the book twice as his second made him the proud owner of the record for most goals in the Premier League scored by a substitute in the first half.
Smalling is now among the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo who himself earned a number of records this year including becoming the leading hat-trick scorer in La Liga (27), the most followed athlete and person on both Facebook (over 100 million likes) and Twitter (over 27m followers).
New York City FC’s Frank Lampard also earned a record when he scored against former side Chelsea which was the 39th different club against which he found the net.
So there you have it, Chris Smalling absolutely smashing it in 2015.
