Lamine Yamal, Barcelona make history in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid

Lamine Yamal, Barcelona make history in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid

Barcelona said goodbye to the UEFA Champions League yesterday, Tuesday, after losing to Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals on 2-3 on aggregate.

The Blaugrana lost the first leg last week 0-2 at the Spotify Camp Nou, leaving them with a mountain to climb at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano last night.

Despite starting off strongly, Barça could not do enough as they won 2-1 on the night but fell short on aggregate scoreline, getting knocked out of the competition.

Records broken

While the elimination hurts, there were some positives for Barcelona from the trip to the Spanish capital, as it reaffirmed the belief that the team is headed in the right direction under Hansi Flick, with youth at its core.

Indeed, last night, as reported by MARCA, Flick sent out the youngest starting lineup in a knockout tie in Barcelona’s history in the Champions League.

The Catalan giants took to the pitch at the Metropolitano with a starting XI averaging 24.95 years of age. In fact, the figure could have been even lower, but Pau Cubarsi (19) was suspended, and Marc Bernal (18) was injured.

Youngest starting XI in a UCL knockout tie in Barcelona’s history. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

The youngest player on the field was Lamine Yamal, who turned 18 last summer, while the oldest was Joao Cancelo, aged 31.

Many of the players in the squad were just children when Barcelona lifted their last Champions League title 11 years ago. That was in 2015, at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, against Juventus. At that time, Lamine was 7 years old; Gavi, 10; Pedri, 12…

Lamine also makes history

Lamine, without a doubt, was one of the standout players for Barcelona on the night against Atletico Madrid. And the teenage winger bowed out of the Champions League with a new record for precocity to his name.

Thanks to the goal he scored at the Metropolitano, the La Masia graduate became the youngest footballer in the Champions League to register at least 10 goal involvements (6 goals and 4 assists) in a single edition.

With this figure, he surpassed Erling Haaland in this particular ranking. The Norwegian, then a Borussia Dortmund player, reached double figures at 19 years and 212 days, while Kylian Mbappe is third on the list (21 years and 236 days).