Lamine Yamal has broken another Champions League record. The Barcelona winger scored early on Tuesday night as his side beat Aston Villa 3-0 at the Spotify Camp Nou, and Raphinha added two goals after the break.
It was Yamal’s 14th goal in the competition before his 20th birthday. No teenager has ever scored more in the Champions League. The old record of 13 belonged to Kylian Mbappé.
A gift in the seventh minute
Villa started the night with a perfect record in this season’s league phase, but they made a mistake very early. In the seventh minute João Gomes played a loose pass inside his own box, and it went straight to Yamal.
The 19-year-old did not need a second chance. He curled the ball past goalkeeper Zion Suzuki and into the corner.
Unai Emery’s team had spells of the ball before half-time, but they could not find a way back into the game.
Raphinha makes sure
The second goal came early in the second half. Raphinha shot from the edge of the area in the 52nd minute, the ball took a big deflection off Victor Lindelöf and ended up in the bottom corner.
Twelve minutes later he scored again. João Cancelo got past John McGinn on the right and crossed with the outside of his boot, and Raphinha turned it in to make it 3-0.
What the result means
The win lifts Hansi Flick’s team to second place in the 36-team league table. Villa lose for the first time in this season’s Champions League and drop below Barcelona on goal difference.
For Yamal, the record came in his 37th Champions League game. He does not turn 20 until July, so he still has the rest of this season to add to his total.
Our take
This was the kind of night Barcelona needed against a team that had won every game in Europe so far. They were sharp from the first minute and punished Villa’s mistake straight away.
Yamal’s numbers are hard to believe for a player his age. Mbappé was already a huge name when he set the old mark, and Yamal has now gone past him with months to spare. Raphinha keeps scoring too, so Barcelona look like a real danger again.
Will anyone ever beat Lamine Yamal’s new record? Tell us in the comments.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Lamine Yamal by Bryan Berlin (CC BY-SA 4.0, two photos); Raphinha by Bryan Berlin (CC BY-SA 4.0); Camp Nou by SimpleObjects-9ei (CC BY-SA 4.0).
