Sports
Nigeria’s Ilenikhena Strikes As Monaco Beat 10-Man Barcelona In Champions League
The 18-year-old came off the bench and, in the 71st minute, latched onto a perfectly weighted long ball from Vanderson, outpacing the defence before unleashing a powerful strike that beat Marc-André ter Stegen.
Barcelona had been reduced to 10 men early in the game when Eric García received a straight red card just 10 minutes in. García fouled Takumi Minamino while trying to recover from a poor pass by Ter Stegen, denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity as the last man in defence.
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Monaco capitalized quickly, with Maghnes Akliouche calmly slotting the ball past a helpless Ter Stegen to put the visitors ahead.
Barcelona, however, found a lifeline through their own teenage sensation, Lamine Yamal. The youngster scored his first Champions League goal, cutting inside after collecting a long pass and firing a precise low shot into the bottom corner.
But the night belonged to Ilenikhena, whose goal, his first since joining Monaco from Royal Antwerp in the summer, sealed Barcelona’s opening-match defeat.
Monaco could have extended their lead, with Vanderson’s powerful effort pushed wide by Ter Stegen and Minamino hitting the crossbar after a deflection. Late in the match, Folarin Balogun had a chance to put the game beyond doubt from the penalty spot, but a VAR check overturned the decision, ruling that he had gone down too easily under a challenge from Iñigo Martínez.
Ilenikhena came off the bench in the 59th minute and was on the scoresheet 12 minutes later to earn victory for his new side.
The youngster’s composed finish put him among esteemed company after he set a record for Monaco’s youngest Champions League goal scorer (18 years and 34 days), breaking Kylian Mbappe’s mark (18 years and 63 days) set in February 2017.
He is also the first player in the competition’s history to score against the same side in successive games but for different teams, having previously netted for Antwerp last December.
Yamal, who has had an incredible year after winning the European Championship with Spain, took 11 Champions League appearances to register his first goal in the competition as he put in another impressive performance despite his side’s defeat.
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He has now made the most appearances by a player aged 17 or under in the competition’s history.
Yamal scored in two consecutive games for the first time for Barca and became the second youngest goal scorer in Champions League history (17 years and 68 days), second only to team-mate Ansu Fati (17 and 40 days) in December 2019.
The 17-year-old also became the youngest Ballon d’Or nominee when the shortlist was announced earlier this month.
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