The Paris SG prodigy Warren Zaire-Emery, who equalized Wednesday in Dortmund (1-1), was only the youngest French scorer in the history of the Champions League for around thirty minutes, until … what George Ilenikhena gives the victory (3-2) in Antwerp against Barça.
At 17 years and 280 days, Zaire-Emery, beaming against Borussia, scored the goal synonymous with qualification in the round of 16 for Paris. But this achievement also allowed him to break a record for precocity – older than him, by the way – by dethroning Karim Benzema.
On December 6, 2005, at the age of 17 years and 352 days, the future Ballon d’Or had indeed scored the first of his 48 goals in the Champions League during the victory (2-1) of Olympique Lyonnais against to the Norwegians of Rosenborg, at the Gerland stadium.
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A record which will have stood for more than 18 years, marking the beginning of a love story between “KB9” and the C1 since the Frenchman will win it five times with Real Madrid.
If Warren Zaire-Emery can dream of such a golden destiny, he will however only have retained the status of youngest French scorer in the Champions League for around thirty minutes: in Antwerp, the Franco-Nigerian George Ilenikhena, entered in play ten minutes earlier, in fact scored the victorious goal for his Belgian club (3-2), in added time (90 2), at 17 years and 119 days, according to the statistician Opta.
Born in Lagos but trained in Antony, in the Paris suburbs, Ilenikhena, who has never yet been selected by one of his two countries, has been playing for the Belgian champion since this summer after having played last season under the colors of Amiens , in Ligue 2. As a striker, he scored two goals in 17 matches played.
On January 10, against Bordeaux, he set a first record by becoming, at 16 years and 4 months, the youngest scorer in the history of L2. He then dethroned the former AC Ajaccio player, who now plays in Rodez, Taïryk Arconte.
His goal on Wednesday against Barça did not prevent Antwerp from finishing last in their Champions League group. But, this time succeeding Karim Benzema and Warren Zaire-Emery, George Ilenikhena has invited himself into the big leagues.
