Getting a place in the Argentina squad was a big surprise. But not only a place, but now the record-breaking debut of Argentina’s emerging young midfielder Franco Mastantuono has also happened. Today, the 17-year-old footballer set the record by taking the field against Chile in the World Cup qualifiers.
Mastantuono has been in the news for a while. There has been a lot of talk about which club he will go to between Real Madrid and PSG. The rivalry between the two best clubs in Europe shows how talented the young footballer is.
And amidst this discussion, Mastantuono made his debut for the Argentina national team today. Today, the midfielder, who plays for River Plate, came on the field in the 84th minute of the match as a substitute for Thiago Almada. After coming on the field for a short time, he touched the ball 8 times in the rest of the match. He made 3 passes, all three of which were correct.
However, these are not all the statistics, Mastantuono set the record by taking the field. He is now the youngest footballer to play an official match for Argentina. In achieving this record, Mastantuono broke Juan Sarnari’s almost 65-year-old record. Sarnari was the youngest footballer to play an official match in 1960 at the age of 18 years, 1 month and 22 days. Mastantuono broke that record today.
Although he is the youngest in official matches, Mastantuono is ranked 5th when friendly matches are taken into account. And at the top of this list is one of the greatest footballers of all time, Diego Maradona. Maradona made his debut against Hungary in 1977 at the age of 16 years, 3 months and 28 days.
The next three are Ernesto Brown (17 years, 6 months and 12 days), Jorge Chechi (17 years, 6 months and 19 days) and Gottlob Wies (17 years, 8 months and 11 days). Lionel Messi is ranked 9th in this list. Messi made his debut in 2005 at the age of 18 years, 1 month and 24 days.
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