Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Gabriel McKay

Maarten Vandevoordt makes Champions League howler as youngster's record night goes wrong

What were you doing at 17? Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't making your Champions League debut away to Napoli.

That's exactly what Genk's Maarten Vandevoordt did this evening, becoming the youngest goalkeeper in the history of the competition.

He lined up against Carlo Ancelotti's side at the age of just 17 years and 287 days, beating the record set by Mile Svilar.

Real Madrid and Spain legend Iker Casillas also made his debut young at 18 years and 117 days, and it's sure to have been a proud moment for Vandevoordt.

Sadly things didn't go according to plan, as his howler gifted Napoli the lead just three minutes in.

To be fair to the young man he showed plenty of confidence, attempting a Cruyff turn as he came under pressure, but he didn't quite get it right.

That left Arkadiusz Milik with the simple task of knocking it into the empty net to give Napoli the lead at the Stadio San Paolo.

Genk were already guaranteed to finish fourth in the group, so his error didn't have too dire a consequence.

Things went from bad to worse though as Vandevoort gave away a penalty on Jose Callejon to allow the Italians to go 3-0 up.

Napoli are in the same group as Liverpool and only needed a draw from the match to go through.

Rangers or Celtic could face RB Salzburg from that group in the Europa League draw.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.