Kylian Mbappe accomplished a huge Champions League milestone only bettered by Lionel Messi following his goal for Real Madrid against Atalanta in the competition on Tuesday night.
Mbappe opened the scoring against Atalanta with a clever goal in the 10th minute to put Los Blancos ahead, his 12th goal for the Spanish giants since joining them in the summer.
However, due to a muscle strain, the France international captain had to be taken off the pitch in the 36th minute, ending his historic night. Though, Madrid rallied in the second half, as goals from Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jr. made sure they took the three points and moved up to 18th place in the standings.
According to Goal, at the age of 25 years and 356 days, Mbappe scored his 50th goal in the renowned competition. Lionel Messi, who achieved a half-century of Champions League goals at the age of just 24 years and 284 days in 2012, still holds the record, making Mbappe the second-youngest player to reach this milestone.
In just 79 Champions League games, he is also the fourth-quickest player to reach 50 goals with only Ruud van Nistelrooy (62), Messi (66), and Robert Lewandowski (77) having done so quicker.
With this accomplishment, Mbappe surpassed another football legend, Cristiano Ronaldo, who at 28 years and 78 days scored his 50th Champions League goal.
Even with this feat, the French talisman still has a long way to go before he can match the legendary Real Madrid player’s record of 140 goals in the competition, which is an all-time record.
Erling Haaland is another player eyeing Messi’s record with his UCL goal-tally currently standing at 46 in 44 matches, the Norwegian, who at the moment is 24 years and 141 days old, needs just 4 goals to equal the feat.
It remains to be seen if Haaland is going to eclipse the record held by the Argentinian superstar.
