Moukoko joins illustrious list of the youngest Champions League debutants ever

Published on: 24 November 2020

Borussia Dortmund's latest teenage sensation, Youssoufa Moukoko, could tonight break a Champions League record that has stood for over 26 years.

After scoring a ridiculous 141 goals in 88 youth-team matches, Dortmund wasted no time in handing Moukoko his professional debut at the weekend - just a day after his 16th birthday.

And having been included in Lucien Favre's Champions League squad - despite being ineligible for the first three games of this year's competition - Moukoko looks set to smash another record.

Here Sportsmail take a look at the 10 youngest players in Champions League history. and how the German youth international will leave rivals trailing in his wake...

1 Celestine Babayaro - Anderlecht

Nov 23, 1994 - 16 years 2 months 25 days

He spent over a decade in the Premier League with Chelsea and Newcastle, but Celestine Babayaro is the unlikely identity of the Champions League's youngest ever player.

Setting the record in just the third season after its rebrand from the European Cup, the former Nigeria defender has held it for nearly the entirety of its history.

But what should have been a proud night for the left-back turned into one to forget. He lasted only 37 minutes before he was sent off for a second bookable offence as Anderlecht drew 1-1 with Steaua Bucharest.

2 Rayan Cherki - Lyon

Nov 27, 2019 - 16 years 3 months 10 days

It was only last season that Rayan Cherki entered this list at No 2.

The teenage attacking midfielder came on for the last 15 minutes in Lyon's group game defeat by Zenit St Petersburg a year ago this week.

He made just one further appearance - in the first leg of the last-16 victory over Juventus - as Lyon surprised the whole of Europe by reaching the semi-finals.

3 Alen Halilovic - Dinamo Zagreb

Oct 24, 2012 - 16 years 4 months 6 days

Once hailed as 'the next Luka Modric', Alen Halilovic has fallen on hard times in recent years.

Just this week the former Barcelona and AC Milan wonderkid, now 24, signed for Championship side Birmingham.

Back in October 2012 he was a late substitute for Dinamo Zagreb, replacing Mateo Kovacic in a 2-0 defeat by PSG. Just two years on he found himself at the Nou Camp, where he failed to make a single first-team appearance.

4 Youri Tielemans - Anderlecht

Oct 2, 2013 - 16 years 4 months 25 days

He's now one of the most consistent performers in the Premier League with Leicester.

But Youri Tielemans has been lighting up football's grandest stages ever since emerging through Anderlecht's youth academy and signing his first professional contract there seven years ago.

He was handed his Champions League debut from the start, but the Belgian side were well beaten at home by Olympiacos - with future Fulham flop Kostas Mitroglu scoring a hat-trick.

5 Charalampos Mavrias  - Panathinaikos

Oct 20, 2010 - 16 years 7 months 29 days

It is 10 years since a largely forgettable goalless stalemate between Panathinaikos and Rubin Kazan.

Charalampos Mavrias came on for the last 15 minutes to earn his place in this list. The right-back has had a nomadic career since, making seven appearances in three years at Sunderland and also enjoyed a single season at Hibernian.

Now, at 26, he plies his trade in Cyprus.

6 Kenneth Zohore - FC Copenhagen

Oct 20, 2010 - 16 years 8 months 19 days

There wasn't much Kenneth Zohore could do to rescue Copenhagen from defeat at the Nou Camp 10 years ago.

The young forward was given 15 minutes to try and turn things around for the Danes against Barcelona, but could only watch as Lionel Messi sealed an easy 2-0 win for Pep Guardiola's men.

Zohore has not really kicked on since, in a career that has now taken him to a loan at Millwall, via spells at Fiorentina, Brondby, Cardiff and West Brom among others.

7 Moise Kean - Juventus

Nov 22, 2016 - 16 years 8 months 25 days

Moise Kean has packed so much into his career already that it is remarkable he is still only 20, and more so that his Champions League debut came just four years ago.

Kean emerged for the last five minutes as Juventus eased past Sevilla in a group-stage clash back in 2016.

But he quickly fell out of favour in Turin and found himself shipped out to Everton a year ago, where he scored just twice in a difficult season. Now he's on loan at last season's beaten finalists, PSG, and looks to have rediscovered his form and love for the game with five goals in eight games so far.

8 Bryan Cristante - AC Milan

Dec 6, 2011 - 16 years 09 months 03 days

In an AC Milan side that featured Clarence Seedorf, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alex Pato, Bryan Cristante made his Champions League debut nearly nine years ago.

But in his 10 minutes on the pitch, Milan let slip a two-goal lead away at Viktoria Plzen. Cristante went on to make only five first-team appearances before he was sent off to Benfica.

A dynamic loan spell at Atalanta in 2017-18 reinvigorated Cristante's career, and at 25 he is now a regular for Roma.

9 Aleksandr Pavlenko - Spartak Moscow

Oct 31, 2001 - 16 years 9 months 11 days

It is some 19 years since Aleksandr Pavlenko made a late cameo as Spartak Moscow were defeated 2-1 away at Feyenoord.

The midfielder went on to become a mainstay at the Russian giants for the best part of a decade before finally leaving in 2010.

Still going at the ripe old age of 35, he now plays for Rodina Moscow.

10 Roman Wallner - Sturm Graz

Dec 9, 1998 - 16 years 10 months 05 days

It is nearly 22 years since a late substitute appearance for Roman Wallner helped him gatecrash this list.

But the Austrian had little time to make any impact after goals from Javier Zanetti and Roberto Baggio helped Inter Milan to victory in a group match against Sturm Graz.

Wallner played 29 times for Austria and appeared for an incredible 14 clubs before finally hanging up his boots just last year. Now 38, he is part of the backroom staff at Salzburger AK.

Source: m.allfootballapp.com

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