Lamine Yamal can set a new Champions League record on Tuesday night. Barcelona host Aston Villa at the Camp Nou at 21:00 CET, and one goal would make Yamal the top teenage scorer in the history of the competition.
The 19-year-old has 13 Champions League goals so far. That is the same number Kylian Mbappé scored before he turned 20, and nobody has scored more as a teenager.
Level with Mbappé after Paris
Yamal drew level with Mbappé two weeks ago in Paris. Barcelona lost 4-2 to Paris Saint-Germain that night, but Yamal scored a fine solo goal in the 79th minute to make it 2-2. PSG then scored twice more in the last ten minutes to win the game.
That defeat was Barcelona’s first in this season’s league phase. They have six points from three games and sit eighth in the table.
The form at home is better. On Saturday Barcelona beat Alavés 6-1, and Yamal scored twice. Barcelona are also unbeaten in their last 15 European home games against English clubs, with ten wins and five draws.
Villa arrive with a perfect record
This will not be an easy night for Hansi Flick’s team. Aston Villa have won all three of their Champions League games and are second in the table with nine points. They have scored 12 goals and let in only three.
Unai Emery knows Spanish football very well. He won the Europa League as coach of Sevilla and later with Villarreal. Villa drew 1-1 with Fulham on Saturday, with Nicolas Jackson scoring their goal.
History is not on Villa’s side in Spain, though. They have won only one of their eight European away games in the country.
Barcelona still have some problems in defence. Andreas Christensen is working his way back from the injury he picked up at Sevilla in September, and took part in only some of Sunday’s training with the group.
Our take
Yamal will get the headlines, and he likes the big stage. He has scored in Paris and against Alavés in the last two weeks, so the record could come very soon.
But Villa are the team in form in Europe. Barcelona have let in goals in all of their recent games, and Emery’s side can hurt them on the counter. A draw would not be a shock.
The clubs have only met in two European ties before. Barcelona won a UEFA Cup quarter-final in 1978, and Villa won the European Super Cup in 1982.
Will Lamine Yamal break the record against Aston Villa on Tuesday? Tell us in the comments.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Lamine Yamal by Bryan Berlin (CC BY-SA 4.0), Unai Emery by reepers_hellcat (CC BY 4.0), Hansi Flick by JaflaumS05 (CC BY-SA 4.0), Camp Nou by SimpleObjects-9ei (CC BY-SA 4.0).
