Yamal Breaks Mbappe's Record as Champions League's Top Teenage Scorer

Lamine Yamal is now the highest scoring teenager in Champions League history. The Barcelona winger scored in the seventh minute against Aston Villa at Camp Nou on Tuesday night, and the goal was his 14th in the competition before his 20th birthday. No player has scored more at that age. The record he took belonged to Kylian Mbappe, who scored 13 goals in the competition before turning 20.

How the record goal arrived

The goal came from an Aston Villa mistake at the back. Goalkeeper Zion Suzuki played a short pass out to his defenders, and Barcelona pressed high and crowded them out. Joao Gomes, under pressure, passed the ball straight to Yamal inside the area. Yamal took one touch with his left foot and curled a low shot past Suzuki into the far corner. Barcelona led 1-0 at half time through that goal, in a league phase match on matchday four of this season's competition.

A record UEFA flagged before kickoff

The mark was there to be taken on Tuesday. UEFA set it out in its own preview of matchday four. Yamal, aged 19 years and 113 days on matchday, went into the night level with Mbappe on 13 goals as a teenager, and UEFA noted that one more goal would give him the record outright. He needed seven minutes to get it.

Fourteen goals in 37 games

Yamal has built the record quickly. Tuesday's goal took him to 14 Champions League goals in 37 appearances in the competition, and he has as many assists to go with them. He made his debut in the competition in September 2023. A scoring record for teenagers in this competition is normally shared or held for years by a player from one of Europe's biggest academies. Yamal now holds it alone, and he still has the rest of the league phase to add to it before age rules him out of the teenage category for good.

The match around the record

Aston Villa came to Camp Nou with a perfect record in this season's league phase, three wins from their opening three matches. Barcelona had two wins and one defeat from their first three games, so the home side needed the points as well as the headline. Yamal's early goal settled the home crowd and gave Barcelona the half time lead, and it did so against the one side in the group phase who had not dropped a point before Tuesday.

Company at the top

The two names at the top of this record are the same two names near the top of this year's Ballon d'Or voting. Mbappe finished second in that vote, Yamal finished third, and Harry Kane won the prize. Yamal was also recognised with the Kopa Trophy, the award for the best young talent, for the third successive year. Tuesday's goal is one more reason the voting went that way: at 19, Yamal is no longer being measured against other teenagers for long. He keeps passing their records instead.