Rico Lewis, a young player for Manchester City, had to earn his start against Sevilla, but he made the most of it.
The full-back scored on his first Champions League start, making him the youngest player in history to do so.
Karim Benzema’s previous record for the Ballon d’Or was beaten by Lewis, who is now 17 years, 346 days old. The Real Madrid striker scored for Lyon against Rosenborg in 2005 at the age of 17 years, 352 days.
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Lewis unexpectedly got the start versus Sevilla.
Rafa Mir had given the visiting team the lead seven minutes into the second half when he scored to tie the game. City won 3-1.
Lewis made his first start and his sixth senior appearance.
Pep Guardiola, the manager of City, remarked, “We don’t give presents here, he had to earn it. “Since the day he competed in a preseason match against Bayern Munich, we have observed it. We thought he had something unique.”
Given the wealth of elite talent on City’s roster, Guardiola also lauded Lewis for his willingness to compete for a spot in the first team in the face of such strong competition.
Former academy alums Jadon Sancho and Brahim Diaz have chosen to depart in order to find regular playing time.
Guardiola stated that “the individuals who want to stay and fight will have a chance.” “You could see the crowd’s reaction to how they felt about having players from the academy play for us if they were not patient and did not listen to the agents. They also has quality.”
Ansu Fati of Barcelona, who scored at the age of 17 years and 40 days in a 2-1 victory over Inter Milan in 2019, is the youngest player to score in the Champions League.