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Fernando Torres scored the first hat-trick in Confederations Cup history on Sunday (14th June) as Spain made a sublime entrance to the 2009 tournament, beating New Zealand 5-0 in their Group A encounter at Rustenburg in South Africa.

Torres hit three in the first 17 minutes to give fans at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium plenty to cheer after hosts South Africa opened the competition with a dull 0-0 draw against Iraq earlier in the day.

Cesc Fabregas and David Villa also found the back of the net for the European champions and tournament favourites.

Fans were in party mood in Rustenburg, despite South Africa''s disappointing goalless draw with Iraq in the Confederations Cup opener in Johannesburg.

Conversely, Spain provided plenty of goals in Group A''s second game of the day against a shell-shocked New Zealand side and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres scored three of them.

Spain and Torres had two after 14 minutes as Albert Riera and David Villa combined down the left before Torres side-footed into the far corner. The hat-trick goal, after just 17 minutes, was beautifully simple.

Torres rose to power home a header from Villarreal defender Joan Capdevila''s cross from the left. Somehow, Spain coach Vicente del Bosque managed to look unimpressed.

New Zealand were in danger of conceding an embarrassing number of goals as a slick passing move involving Xavi, Capdevila twice, and Riera ended with the Villarreal man providing Arsenal''s Cesc Fabregas this time with the easiest of tap-ins. 4-0 after 28 minutes.

Spain had opened their account three minutes into the first half, and Torres created goal number five six minutes into the second half.

It was a disastrous error from New Zealand defender Andy Boyens that allowed David Villa to score and Spain to complete a 5-0 win. The expression of the New Zealand coaching staff said it all.

They are not the first and won''t be the last team to fall victim to a five-star performance from the world''s number one ranked team.