At the age of 17 years and 280 days, Warren Zaire-Emery becomes the youngest Frenchman to ever score in the Champions League. That record previously belonged to Benzema, who scored for Olympique Lyonnais at the age of 17 years and 352 days.
Zaïre-Emery’s goal was not only record-breaking, it was also crucial. His equaliser ultimately secured Paris Saint-Germain’s progression to the group stages. At the time of his goal, PSG were trailing Borussia Dortmund, and with AC Milan ultimately beating Newcastle United (2-1), Les Parisiens needed a point to progress from the group stage.
“At the same time we’re happy, but we know we could have done better and finished in first place,” Zaïre-Emery told Canal Plus post-match. “That was the objective. But we’re happy to finish second and to qualify. We played a good match. Sometimes, football is like that, the ball doesn’t want to go into the net. We had lots of chances. There are only positives going forward.”
His sentiment was shared by club captain Marquinhos. “Qualification and the second place is one objective that we had. The first one was to finish in first place. We had the chances. We felt as though we could have got it, but still, you have to stay clear-minded – it’s important to qualify and keep this Champions League objective,” said the Brazilian international.