Lamine Yamal becomes youngest player to start in Champions League

Lamine Yamal started for FC Barcelona at Do Dragao, the home of Porto, in the Champions League on Wednesday. The home-grown player, who turned 16 on 13 July, continues to break records for precociousness.

On the first matchday of the European competition, in Montjuïc against Antwerp, Lamine Yamal became the youngest Barcelona player to play in the Champions League, at 16 years and 68 days, surpassing Ansu Fati (16 years and 321 days).

Against the Belgians, Lamine Yamal came on in the 68th minute to replace Joao Félix, the hero of the 5-0 win, and had two good chances.

On Wednesday, on Portuguese soil, Lamine achieved a new record, not only for Barça, but for the entire history of the competition, which gives him even more merit.

According to Mister Chip (@2010MisterChip), Lamine Yamal has become the youngest player in history to start in the Champions League.

The record kid

Lamine beat the previous record by a very narrow three days. Celestine Babayaro, a Nigerian who played for Anderlecht in the 1990s, was a starter for 16 years and 86 days. Lamine has done it at 16 years and 83 days.

Another record for Lamine. And possibly the most important one is still to come, that of being the youngest goalscorer in the Champions League. He hoped to achieve it in Porto, but in any case, he has the whole season to do it and unseat Ansu Fati, who achieved it on 10 December 2019 at San Siro (a 2-1 win against Inter Milan) at 17 years and 40 days.