squad number from 26, which he had been allocated initially, to 52, which he claimed was "a special number to [him] personally". He agreed to refund any supporters who had already bought a shirt printed with his original number. He scored his first goal of the season in the Champions League group stage in a 3–2 away win against Standard Liège. On the morning of 27 September, he was involved in a car accident while driving along the A1. He suffered cuts to his knees and shoulder pain, and wrote off his Aston Martin. He returned to action on 4 October and scored his first league goal of the season in Arsenal's 6–2 win over Blackburn Rovers. On 28 October, he scored the winning goal in the League Cup in a 2–1 win against Liverpool. On 10 November, Bendtner underwent surgery in Germany after aggravating a groin injury in the 3–0 win on 31 October playing against Tottenham Hotspur. He was expected to be out for up to four weeks, but did not return until 27 January in a 0–0 draw at Villa Park. He started his first match after recovering from his injury and played 82 minutes in Arsenal's victory over Liverpool on 10 February to complete his return to full fitness. Ten days later, he scored his first league goal since October with the opener in a 2–0 home defeat of Sunderland. He followed this up with the equalising goal in a 3–1 win against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on 27 February. On 9 March, Bendtner scored the first hat-trick of his professional career in a 5–0 victory over Porto in the second leg of the Champions League first knockout round to overturn their 2–1 loss in the first leg. Four days later, he scored a stoppage-time winning goal against Hull City to put the Gunners level on points with Chelsea at the top of the Premier League. Another stoppage-time winner followed in the 1–0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on 3 April. Bendtner won the Arsenal Player of the Month award for his performances in March, taking over 33% of the votes. He scored the only goal for Arsenal in a 4–1 defeat to Barcelona at the Camp Nou as they were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-final on 6 April. 2010–11 season After worsening his groin problem during the 2010 World Cup,