Two players separated by 21 years did battle in the Champions League semi-final with Juventus’ 39-year-old veteran goalkeeper stopping Monaco’s 18-year-old attacker for the most part… then in the 69th minute Kylian Mbappe finally beat Gianluigi Buffon, and as a sign of admiration the Italian planted a kiss on his French foe.
Continuing to make history, Mbappe became the youngest player to score in a Champions League semi-final at 18 years and 134 days, after also becoming the first player to hit the back of the net in each of his first four knockout matches.
From the second round onwards, only Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more goals – eight for the Real Madrid man and six for Mbappe.
That goal on Tuesday evening ended Juventus 690 minute run without conceding in Europe’s premier club competition – seven games since Nicholas Pareja bagged one for Sevilla in their 3-1 defeat at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
The AC Milan side of 2004/05 went 641 minutes unbeaten at the back, and Juventus equalled their knockout record of not letting a goal in over five matches, but they were not solid enough to break Arsenal’s all-time record.
In 2005/06, the Gunners reached the final with Jens Lehmann keeping a 995 minute clean sheet.
Mbappe joins a small club which includes Corentin Tolisso of Lyon and Sevilla’s Pareja as the only players to have hit the back of the Juventus net in the Champions League.
Of the 690 minutes, Buffon managed to stay unbeaten for 600 of them, the fifth best record in Champions League history, as Neto was in goal during Juve’s victory over Dinamo Zagreb.
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