Kylian Mbappe has been one of the young stars shining brightest in the Champions League over the past two seasons and now boasts another record in the competition.
Mbappe netted against Bayern Munich on Tuesday to score his 10th goal in the Champions League. At the age of 18 years and 11 months, he has become the youngest player ever to reach that mark. And he did so by some margin!
Mbappe is nearly two years younger than Karim Benzema, the previous holder of the mark, was when he pulled off the feat at 20 years and ten months. And Mbappe’s fellow Frenchman isn’t the only impressive figure to have been passed by the Paris Saint-Germain star with that goal, which also made him the only teenager in the modern-day Champions League to reach the mark.
Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi and Real Madrid legend Raul both did it when they were age 21. Meanwhile, No.6 on the all-time list, Wayne Rooney, did it two weeks after his 22nd birthday while playing for Manchester United.
Mbappe scored six times last season while playing for 2016-17 Champions League semi-finalists Monaco and has proceeded to add four to his total this season after his move to PSG. Mbappe reached double figures, incredibly, in just 15 games and had previously become the highest-scoring teenager in October when he netted against Anderlecht to surpass Patrick Kluivert's landmark.
The goal came at an opportune time, as PSG trailed Bayern Munich 2-0 when he scored — the first time in all competitions the Ligue 1 side had been trailing by two goals since the second leg against Barcelona last season.
Given that Unai Emery's side could still have lost top spot in the group with a 4-0 loss to Bayern, despite their sterling play in the five games prior, Mbappe’s goal almost certainly went a long way to calming the nerves of the PSG faithful that another collapse was not on the cards.
The Bundesliga champions did manage to spoil PSG's perfect Champions League record, but only could muster a 3-1 victory, meaning the Parisians will move on as Group B winners.
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