Artem Stepanov became the youngest Ukrainian footballer to play in a Champions League main round match.
Bayer won a crushing victory at home against Salzburg in the fifth round of the Champions League main stage season 2024/25. The match at the BayArena in Leverkusen ended with a score of 5:0.
In the first half, Florian Wirtz scored a double for the “pharmacists”, scoring from the penalty spot and from play. Alejandro Grimaldo also scored a goal.
After the break, Xabi Alonso's men scored two more goals against the Austrian club – Patrick Schick and Aleix Garcia were the authors of the accurate strikes.
It is worth noting that in the 73rd minute, 17-year-old Ukrainian striker Artem Stepanov came onto the field for Bayer, replacing Schick. Our compatriot, for whom this match was his debut for the adult team of the “pharmacists”, was not remembered for his effective actions.
Thus, Stepanov set a record. Artem became the youngest Ukrainian to play in a Champions League main round match. At the time of the match, he was 17 years, 3 months and 16 days old.
The previous record belonged to Dmytro Chygrynskyy, who played for Shakhtar in the Champions League match against Barcelona on December 7, 2004, at the age of 18 years and 1 month.
In addition, Stepanov became the youngest debutant in the Champions League for Bayer. He broke the record of Kai Havertz, who first played for Leverkusen in this tournament at the age of 17 years, 4 months and 22 days.
Let us add that the match between Bayer and Salzburg was officiated by a Ukrainian team of referees headed by Nikolai Balakin.
Review of the match “Bayer” – “Salzburg”
Thanks to this victory, Bayer with 10 points rose to fifth place in the overall standings of the main round of the Champions League. Salzburg are in 30th place with 3 points.
In the next round of the most prestigious European Cup, Bayer will host Inter, and Salzburg will face PSG at home. Both matches will take place on December 10.
The eight best teams from the main stage of the Champions League will reach the 1/8 finals. The clubs that take places from 9th to 24th in the overall standings will play paired play-off matches for a place in the 1/8 finals. The rest will finish their performance in European cups.
