Xavi’s hundredth match on the FC Barcelona bench, Wednesday evening in Porto, ended with a not unfortunate victory for Barça (1-0, goal from Ferran Torres). But this second success in two Champions League matches after the success over Antwerp (5-0) was also marked by a record: Lamine Yamal became the youngest player to start a C1 match, at 16 years old and 83 days.
Celestine Babayoro is beaten by three days. The Nigerian was 16 years and 86 days old when he started with Anderlecht at Steaua Bucharest (1-1) on November 23, 1994. He was sent off in the 37th minute.
Yamal didn’t finish the match either. The youngest player and scorer of the Spanish team (against Georgia on September 8, 7-1), who recently extended his contract with the Blaugrana until 2026, quickly left the field in the 71st minute and never came back. Barça played almost ten minutes outnumbered, before the entry of defender Marcos Alonso in place of the right winger.
“He had a very strong pain in his stomach,” Xavi explained on Movistar +. Yamal quickly went to the toilet, but was unable to finish the game, hence his replacement.